Lost Hope: A New Life
by BLUENIGHT23
Summary: THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO LOST HOPE: THE BEGINNING! Erin Johnson is a young survivor of an apocalypse that has wiped out most of the world's population. She continues to struggle with this new life style of never feeling completely safe and always having to watch her own back as well as others as she continues to fight to survive in a world infested with walking corpses. Carl/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, I'm back with a new ****Lost Hope** **story. This one takes place during season two. I hope you guys enjoy! :D**

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter One**

The world is nothing like it used to be and it won't ever be the same again. At least half the population has been wiped out. There is no more government, no more armies; nothing that could save us from this new world. We either have to adapt quickly to this new life or die. My name is Erin Johnson. I am eleven years old and I am a survivor of the most traumatic event to ever take place in history; an apocalypse. My uncle has been killed in the apocalypse, leaving no one else in my family alive. My uncle was all I had, but then I found a group of other survivors who became my new family. They take care of me and treat me like I am one of their own. All we have is each other.

We have recently come upon a place we thought was safe called the CDC, but it wasn't as safe as we had expected; it was just another dead end. It was made to explode when the fuel ran out and that's exactly what happened. Luckily we had escaped, aside from Jacqui who chose to stay behind. She didn't want to face what has become of the world anymore. Safety is only an illusion to us now; something to comfort a person just for awhile before they realize the reality of what was really going on. One can only hope and dream about safety.

My group decided on trying to head to Fort Benning, another place that could be "safe". Who knows, maybe it may actually be safe, but of course that is just a dream for all of us. We all know that the journey is going to be hard, maybe even impossible, but there is nothing left in Atlanta for us; it belongs to the dead now. There is only a few of us now, so we need to stick together and fight for each other, because our only chance of surviving this, is each other.

I sat between Carl and Sophia as we began our journey to Fort Benning.

"We were just thinking about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl." Lori told us.

Rick started laughing, remembering.

"I don't remember that." Carl said looking at his parents in confusion.

"No, you wouldn't you were just a baby." Lori told him laughing. "And besides we never even made it past Fort Worth."

"You got sick." Rick said laughing more. "I never knew a baby could throw up so much."

"Eww." Sophia and I said in unison laughing.

"Ick." Carl said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Yeah, ick." Lori said laughing. "But the doctor in Texas said you will live and we turned around and went home."

"That sucks." Carl told them.

"Nah, it was a good trip." Lori told him. "Even though you were throwing up half the time."

"The best." Rick said smiling.

"Can we go see it; the Grand Canyon someday?" Carl asked hopeful. "I would like to."

"I would too." Sophia told them. "Can we go?" she asked referring to her and her mother.

"And Erin too?" Carl said nudging me. I smiled.

"We would never go without you guys." Rick said glancing back at us smiling. "That's a promise."

"It will be the best vacation ever!" Carl said getting excited. "Erin, have you ever been to the Grand Canyon before?"

"Once, a long time ago when my dad's job took us to Arizona for a few weeks." I said smiling. "It seemed like we were so high up so I got scared and ran all the way back to the tourist offices. It took my parents two hours to find me."

Everyone started laughing, but we all stopped when we noticed that the others in front of us slow down and come to a stop.

"What's going on?" I asked Rick.

"I'm not sure." Rick said stopping the vehicle. Then we realized why they stopped; there were vehicles all over the road that blocked us from going on any farther. They started to move again slowly to try to steer through all the cars. I got nervous and tensed up a bit; there could be walkers around. Carl noticed me tense up and held my hand. I looked over at Sophia to see that she looked nervous too so I held her hand as well. We could see dead people in some of the cars that we drove by.

We didn't get too far before Dale's R.V. started acting up again. Rick pulled the car to a stop and we all got out. We walked up to where Dale was who told us it was the radiator hose again. Daryl began looting through some of the vehicles to look for stuff that we could possibly use.

"What are you doing?" Dale asked him.

"Well if we can't find a radiator hose there probably a bunch of other things we can find in these vehicles." Daryl said continuing to look through a car.

"This is a grave yard." Lori said in slight protest. "I don't know how I feel about this."

The others thought about it for a second and decided to look for stuff anyways because we were desperate.

I walked with Carl as we began looking in vehicles for stuff we could use. I cringed when we walked to a car with a dead woman inside. Carl opened one of the back doors and began looking to see if he can find anything. I walked around to the other side and did the same thing.

"Erin, I found some pill bottles." Carl said holding up a bag with different types of medicine inside.

I smiled. "That's good. Those can be useful sometime."

Then we saw Rick running towards us with a terrified look. "Walkers, get down!" He whispered motioning for us to get under the car. Carl and I ducked and climbed under the car. I saw Lori and Carol do the same under another car. I looked the other way and saw that Sophia had gotten under another car close to the edge of the road. Then the walkers started to pass. I held my breath and waited. If I made the tiniest sound I would alert all those walkers and let them know that we are here. I looked at Carl who was right next to me, watching the walker pass by. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch.

I listened as more passed by. I felt Carl scoot closer to me so that he was more hidden. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to the middle so that I was more hidden as well. I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from making any noise that would attract the walkers. When I didn't hear any more walkers passing by I slowly opened my eyes. I looked around and didn't see anymore. Carl looked at me and smiled. I looked over to Sophia to see her slowly starting to climb out from under the car she was under, but then, another walker that had been walking a bit far behind from the others, saw her. Sophia began nervously crying and climbed out on the opposite site of the car with the walker following her. I felt scared for her and was beginning to get out from under the vehicles, but Carl stopped me pointing at more walkers that were still passing by.

Sophia ran off the road and into the forest with the walkers following her. I then saw Rick holding his rifle running after her. Carl and I climbed out from under the car. I saw Carol already running towards the direction Sophia went.

"Lori, there are two walkers after my baby!" She said crying. Lori grabbed her and stopped her from running any farther and hugged her. We all waited on the side of the road for Rick to return back with Sophia, but when Rick came back, there was no Sophia. "Where's Sophia?" Carol asked crying more.

"She isn't here?" Rick asked shocked. "I told her how to run back if she decided to not wait for me."

Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Shane went back into the forest to look for her. Lori continued to comfort Carol. I walked into the R.V. to see Andrea with blood splatters on her and shakily trying to put her gun together.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

She nodded and continued trying to figure out her pistol. "Just a little freaked, that's all."

I watched as she tried to put her gun back together, but noticed that she had it all wrong. "Here, it goes like this." I took the pistol from her and rearranged the parts to fit where they went and handed it back to her. "There." I told her. "Good as new." I knew how to work guns because my dad had taught me how to as soon as I was able. He was a marine before he died three years ago.

Andrea looked at me funny, but said nothing.

"Sophia was chased into the woods by walkers." I said looking down sadly. "Some of the others are out looking for her."

Andrea nodded sadly. "I hope they find her."

"Me too." I said walking back out of the R.V.

I saw Carl was outside waiting for me. "Dad wants us to continue looking for things we can use."

"Okay." I smiled. I decided to try to stop worrying about Sophia. Rick will find her soon. The adults were beginning to move cars out of the way so that we could turn around and head back to a bypass that Glenn had found on the map.

"Erin, look." Carl said pointing to the inside of a truck where a dead man was sitting. "There is something in his hands." He came around to the other side and slowly opened the door.

"Carl, what if it's a walker." I said nervously.

"It's not, look; his head's been shot." Carl told me pointing to the bullet hole in the dead man's head. Carl began pulling on the bag that he was holding to try to free it from his grip. He gave one last pull and it gave away causing Carl to fall back on me. I noticed I got a small scratch and that it was starting to bleed.

"Erin, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" He asked me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's in the pouch?" I asked pointing to the pouch he had in his hands. He laid it out on the ground and opened it up. It had a small axe in it and several knives and tools. "Sweet! You found an arsenal!" I said excitedly smiling at Carl.

Carl blushed and smiled back. "Come on, let's go show Shane." We ran back to where everyone else was. "Shane!"

"Carl, what's wrong?" Lori asked running over worried.

"Mom, I found something cool!" Carl said laying the pouch out on the ground and opening it up. "Shane, check it out; it's an arsenal." Carl told him excitedly.

"That's cool, bud, why don't you go bring it to Dale." Shane told him not sounding too thrilled about it at all.

"Check this one out." Carl said pulling out the small axe. "It's a hatchet."

I pulled out one of the knives and began examining it. It was a nice knife. "Carl, look at this one!" I said smiling handing him the knife.

"Whoa cool." Carl said taking the knife and examining it. "Can I keep one?" Carl asked his mom.

"Are you crazy?" Lori asked taking the knife and hatchet away.

"No way, you're not going to let me keep one?" Carl asked disappointed. "Shane, tell her to let me keep one."

"Come on, man. I told you to give them all to Dale." He told him. "Now, go!"

Carl looked down sadly and took grabbed the pouch and began running off. I slowly followed him. I could see that he was crushed that Shane yelled at him. Carl gave the pouch to Dale and went into the R.V. He walked over to the couch and sat down. I walked over and sat beside him.

"I'm sure Shane is just worried about_" I started saying.

"Just leave me alone!" Carl snapped.

I jumped to his sudden outburst and looked at him a little hurt. "I'm, sorry. I just want to_"

"I said go!" Carl yelled at me.

I felt my eyes water up. I ran out of the R.V. before I started crying. Carl had never yelled at me before. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, but I quickly wiped away so no one would notice, but it didn't go completely unnoticed.

"Are you okay?" Andrea asked me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her looking down at the ground.

"You don't look like your fine." Andrea continued.

"I'm just a bit concerned about Sophia, that's all." I told her, which was true; I was worried about Sophia, but that wasn't why I was crying.

"I'm sure Rick and the others will find her." She told me pulling me into a side hug.

I smiled hugging her back. "Yeah you're right, thanks."

_(Carl's Pov.)_

I don't know what had gotten into me; I had just yelled at Erin. I know she was trying to help, but I was just so crushed by Shane, I guess I just let my anger out on her. I ran to the window of the R.V. and saw Erin standing outside wiping a tear away from her eyes. I can't believe it; I made Erin cry. I felt awful. I was about to go outside and apologize, but I saw Andrea begin to talk to her and changed my mind. I went back down and sat on the couch, wiping my own tears away from my face. I will apologize to her, for sure, but I want it to be when we are alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Two**

_(Erin's Pov.)_

"Did you find Sophia?" I asked when I saw Rick and the others walk back. Carol walked over with a hopeful look in her eyes, but it quickly diminished when she didn't see Sophia with them.

Rick look at the ground sadly.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked starting to cry again.

"The trail went cold. We will pick it up again, first thing in the morning." Rick told her.

"You can't leave my daughter out there alone to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol told him.

"Looking for her in the dark will be no good. We will just be tripping over ourselves trying to find her." Daryl told her.

"But she's twelve; she can't be out there all on her own." Carol told them. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic." Rick told her.

I looked down at the ground sadly.

"We were able to track her for awhile." Daryl said trying to make her feel a little better.

Carol then saw read liquid on Daryl's leg. "Is that blood?" She asked nervously.

"We took down a walker." Rick said carefully, knowing that she would get nervous again. "But there was no sign that she was anywhere near Sophia." He assured her.

"How can you be sure?" Andrea asked.

Rick and Daryl exchanged nervous glances. "We cut it open." Daryl told them.

Carol started getting even more upset so I walked away not wanting to see anymore. I silently prayed that Sophia will be alright and that we would find her.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Carl looking down. "I need to talk to you." He told me quietly. "In the R.V." I nodded and followed him into the R.V. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He said sadly. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"You saw that?" I asked embarrassed.

He nodded sadly. "I was just so upset and crushed that it made me in a bad mood."

"I should've just stayed out of your business, though. I should've just let you be." I told him.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry, Erin. Can you forgive me?" he asked still looking at the ground.

I nodded. "Of course." He looked up and smiled slightly, but I could still tell he felt pretty guilty. "Don't worry; everyone gets upset once in a while."

Carl smile and nodded not looking as guilty. "Hey, I got something for you." He told me. He ran over to a cabinet in the R.V. and pulled out the knife that I was looking at earlier from the pouch. "I saw how much you liked it, so I saved it for you." He held out the knife and blushed.

I smiled happily and pulled Carl into a hug. "Thanks." I whispered in his ear. He began hugging me back and we stayed like that for several minutes until Dale walked in.

"What are you two doing?" Dale asked eying us funny.

We immediately pulled apart and blushed. I hid the knife behind my back so that he wouldn't see.

"Um, I was just showing Erin how to…." Carl started saying.

"Stay warm in Antarctica!" I blurted out before I realized how stupid it sounded.

"Yeah…..how to stay warm in Antarctica….." Carl said looking at me funny.

Dale laughed knowingly and we slipped passed him out of the R.V.

"How to stay warm in Antarctica?" Carl asked me smirking at my attempt to cover up us hugging.

"Shut up." I said shoving him slightly. "That's all I could think of."

"Carl, Erin!" Lori called over to us. "You two will be sleeping with us in the car." She told us referring to her and Rick.

We nodded and walked over to the car. We both got into the back seat.

"We only have one blanket to spare, so you two are going to have to share." Rick told us handing us a blanket. Carl blushed as he took the blanket from Rick. I scooted closer to him and he wrapped the blanket around us.

"We will be right back." Lori told us. "We are going to check on everyone else."

We nodded and walked back to the others.

"Too bad we don't have any pillows." I say laughing.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Carl said leaning with his back against the Car door. "If you want…..you can….use me as a pillow." Carl told me blushing.

I blushed too. "You wouldn't mind?" I asked him.

"No, you would be keeping me warm." He told me smiling.

"Okay." I replied. I leaned my body into him and he wrapped his arms around my stomach to make it more comfortable. We blushed at how close we were to each other. "Do you think your dad will be able to find Sophia?" I asked trying to make things less awkward.

"I hope so." He told me. "Maybe we will even find her ourselves."

"Yeah." I said smiling. "Goodnight, Carl."

"Goodnight, Erin." He told me. Soon we were both asleep.

"Time to wake up you two." I heard Rick say. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at him to see that he was smirking. Then I felt someone shift behind me, remembering that I had slept on Carl. "Did you sleep alright?"

I blushed and moved away from Carl. "Um, yeah, I slept fine." I answered.

"Me too." Carl said blushing as well.

We climbed out of the Car and walked to the others. The others were planning to go out and look for Sophia. I grabbed some crackers from our food stack and began eating my breakfast. I handed some to Carl and he began eating them too.

We walked over to where Rick was talking to Dale. "Can you keep an eye on Carl and Erin?

"We're going with you." Carl told him. "We want to look for Sophia too." I nodded. "You need people right, so that we can cover as much ground as possible."

I could see that Rick was debating in his head whether or not to let us go. He looked over at Lori to see is she had any protests

"Well, I can't always be the bad guy." She told us smirking.

"Well they have all of you to look after him, so I would say they are in good hands." Dale said smiling.

"Okay, you can come." Rick told us smiling.

"Yes!" Carl and I said in unison excitedly.

"But always stay within out sight, no exceptions." Rick told us.

We nodded eagerly. "Thanks." I told Dale giving him a quick hug for helping us go. He winked at us in return. I grabbed the knife that Carl had given me and decided to use it for defending myself in case anything was to happen. Soon we were off in the woods, searching for Sophia.

Carl's parents let him have a knife to and he was happy that they had finally let him keep one.

"Shane, look at this. Dad told me I can carry this and Mom_"

"Keep it down." Shane whispered harshly. Carl looked at him with hurt in his eyes. "We are looking for Sophia, and we need to focus on the task.

Carl walked up to his mom. "You got to keep up." Lori said encouragingly. "You okay?

"I think Shane is mad at me." Carl said sadly. "Did I so something wrong?"

"No, of course not." Lori told him. "He is just….worried about Sophia, that's all."

Carl nodded and began walking closer to me. I fidgeted with the knife that Carl gave me as we walked. "Thanks for letting me sleep on you last night." I told him blushing.

"Anytime….it was actually pretty comfortable." Carl told me smiling.

"Yeah it was." I said quietly. Then we all stopped because we saw a tent. Sophia could be inside. I felt hope begin to rise up in me. Daryl skimmed the area for walkers as he got closer to the tent. He looked through the flaps to see if he could see anything and shrugged his shoulders.

Rick gestured for Carol to walk closer. "If Sophia is inside, you voice should be the first she hears." He told her. "Call out softly."

Carol nodded. "Sophia, sweetie? Are you in there?" she called out but there was no reply. "Sophia, it's mommy. We are all here, baby." Still there was no reply.

Daryl pulled the flap and gagged..

"Daryl?" Carol called out wondering what he saw on the inside.

"It ain't her." Daryl told her stepping out of the tent.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Just some man who decided to "opt out" or whatever you want to call it." Daryl told me. Hope of finding Sophia in the tent faded.

Suddenly we heard a bell start to ring. Maybe it was Sophia! We began to run in the direction the bell was coming from. Soon a church came into view surrounded by a cemetery.

"That can't be it. There's no steeple for the bell." Shane told us. Rick ignored him and began heading towards the church. I began to follow and soon we were all running towards the building. A few of us walked inside to see a few walkers sitting on the benches throughout different isles. They turned when they heard us and began walking towards us. Rick took a knife and stabbed on in the head. Daryl did the same with another one as well as Shane.

Then I noticed one that was behind the door and was about to take a bit out of Glenn's arm. I shoved Glenn out of the way and jammed my knife into its head as hard as I could. Glenn looked at me nervous noticing what was about to happen.

"Thanks." He told me and I nodded in return. Then the others walked in.

"I'm telling you Rick; the church has no steeple. The bell came from somewhere else." Then we heard the bell again and it was coming from right outside. We walked outside to see that it was playing on an automatic recorder. There was no Sophia. I kicked some dirt from the ground in disappointment.

Rick led Carl and I back inside and we sat down on one of the benches. I curled my legs to my chest and rested my arms on them. I felt even more worried about Sophia. We still haven't found her yet. She's been alone for a long time now. I know what it is like to be all alone in this world and I know she is probably terrified.

I felt Carl pat me on that back. "Don't worry. We'll find her." He told me still very hopeful.

I smiled at him. "I hope so."

Carol was at the front praying for Sophia; praying that they will find her and that she will be alright. Lori held Carol in a hug and tried her best to comfort her.

It wasn't long before we were out in the woods searching for Sophia again. We had decided to slit up. I went with Carl, Rick, and Shane, while the others headed back to where Dale and T-Dog were. Carl and I had strayed a little ways from Rick and Shane; but we still stayed in their sight. Then Carl saw something.

"Erin, look." Carl told me pointing through trees with a smile on his face. I looked to see what he was pointing at; a big buck with antlers. We quietly got closer until we were almost able to reach out and touch it. It didn't look like it was scared of us at all, but then I got that uneasy feeling I get right before something bad happens. "It's beautiful isn't it, Erin?" Carl whisper to me.

I nodded. "Yes, but Carl, something seems wrong." I whispered to him.

"Everything's alright." Carl assured me. "There aren't any walkers around. It's quiet and peaceful."

"Too quiet." I muttered under my breath.

The deer looked at Carl as he got closer. Carl looked at it with awe. The deer wasn't afraid. Carl reached out his hand to touch it, but then I heard a loud gunshot go off and both the deer and Carl fell to the ground.

"CARL!" I shouted in horror.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Three**

I was at Carl's side in an instant. "Carl!" I shouted but he didn't reply. He had a hole in his side with blood beginning to see out. I took both my hands and placed them over the hole to keep the blood from coming out. I was bawling. I took one of my hands off the wound and placed two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse. He was still alive, but I didn't know how much longer he would survive unless he got some serious help.

A man ran over to me carrying a hunting rifle. He looked shocked and tried putting his hands on my shoulder to comfort me.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at him. The man backed away with his hands up. Still keeping one hand on Carl's wound I moved my other hand up to his cheek to stroke it, smearing his own blood on his face. "Please, Carl. Please don't die. I need you. Please don't die."

Rick and Shane came running over.

"No!" Rick shouted running over to his son's lifeless body.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see him." The man said shakily.

"What do I do? My son is dying." Rick took over and put his hands over Carl's wound.

"Take him to Hershel, he will know what to do." The man said pointing in a certain direction.

Rick picked the lifeless Carl up into his arms and began running. Shane and the man followed.

"How far?" Rick asked the man. "How far?"

"Bout a half mile that way." The man said jogging behind us. "Ask for Hershel; he can help your boy."

I ran ahead with Rick. Soon we came upon a country house and realized that was the place the man was talking about.

I ran ahead and banged on the doors. "Help, help! He's been shot. Please help us." Rick came up behind me and a lady with short brown hair who looked to be in her twenties opened the door with a concerned look. "Please help us." I pleaded with her crying.

"Dad!" She called into the house. Soon an old man with white hair came out of the house followed by a middle-aged woman, a teenage girl, and a teenage boy carrying a baseball bat.

"Please you got to help him, he's my best friend." I pleaded.

"Was he bit?" The man asked Rick.

"No, shot, by your man." Rick told them.

"Otis?" The middle-aged woman asked.

"Are you Hershel? Please help my boy." Rick said crying as well.

"Bring him inside!" the man that was apparently Hershel said. Rick carried Carl inside following Hershel. "Patricia, I'm going to need my kit; pain killers, everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol…" he continued giving instructions and led Rick into a room with a bed and began moving sheets from the bed. Rick set Carl on the bed and they removed his shirt. I began to cry harder as I saw Carl covered in his own blood. I got out of the way of the others and ran to the other side of the bed. I knelt down and grabbed Carl's lifeless hand.

"Is he alive?" I heard Rick ask. Hershel ignored him and continued giving instructions to the others who were in the house. He handed Rick a towel and instructed him to put pressure on the wound as he listened for a heartbeat.

"I got a heartbeat." Hershel told us. I held Carl's hand tighter.

"Okay I got it." The middle-aged woman told Rick. "You need to give us space now." Rick took a few steps back.

"What are your names?" Hershel asked.

"Rick, I'm Rick." Rick told him looking like he was in shock. I said nothing.

"Rick, we are going to everything we can to save your boy, okay, but you need to give us some room." Hershel told him.

Rick slowly walked over to where I was and gently pulled me away from Carl. He pulled me outside and I collapsed onto the patio crying. I saw Shane and the other man running up to us.

"Is he alive?" The man asked shakily.

Rick rubbed his face smearing Carl's blood on it. Shane pulled a rag out from his bag and rubbed it off of him. Rick was in shock, and didn't seem to be thinking to clearly at the moment. Rick noticed the blood on his hands and began to cry more. Rick stumbled back into the house with Shane and the man who shot Carl following him. I stood up and walked inside with them.

"You know his blood type?" Hershel asked Rick when he saw him.

"A-positive; same as mine." He replied.

"Me too." I told him shakily.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander too far; I'm going to need you two." Hershel told us. "What happened?"

"I was trying to get a buck; bullet went straight through it." The man who shot Carl said quietly.

"Well it certainly slowed the bullet down; may be why the boy's still alive, but it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. I could get the bullet fragments out; I'm counting six.

"I never saw him." The man said shakily. "I didn't see him till he was on the ground."

The lady named Patricia walked over and hugged the man to comfort him. I could tell that he felt very guilty and bad about what he had done.

"Lori, she doesn't know." Rick said shakily. "My wife doesn't know that her son's been shot."

I walked over to the side of the bed where I wouldn't get in anyone's way and grabbed Carl's hand again. "Please hang on, Carl." I said quietly. "I need you, please don't leave me. You're my best friend." I was still crying; I tried to stop, but the tears kept coming.

"Hun, why don't you come with me, and give them some room to work." The lady with short brown hair told me pulling me away from Carl. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

I did reply; I just watched Carl lay there. The lady noticed that my hands were still covered in Carl's blood.

"Come on, let's go wash that off of you." The lady brought me to a bathroom and turned on the sink. She pulled some rags out from under the sink and got them wet. She took one and placed it to my hand. I gasped and pulled my hand away; they had warm water.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" The lady asked, startled by my sudden movement.

"The water; it's warm." I told her quietly, surprised that they had warm water in their house.

"Is it too hot; because I can turn it down if it is…."

"No, it feels good." I told her letting her continue washing the blood of my hands.

The small smile appeared on the ladies face. "You're acting like you haven't felt warm water for a long time."

"That's because we haven't." I told her quietly. "Well I mean, we did have warm water at the CDC, but it exploded." The lady looked at me funny when I told her it exploded and handed me a towel to dry my hand off, letting me know that she had gotten the blood off. "How do you still have hot water?" I asked her.

"Well, we use natural recourses to get power on the farm." She told me. "I'm Maggie. What's your name?"

"Erin." I answered.

The lady smiled. "Well ,Erin, we are going to do everything in our power to help your friend."

I nodded and tried to smile a little, but I found that I couldn't. I realized that I had stopped crying, probably just because I didn't have any cry left in me. I then heard another cry. It came from Carl. I ran out of the bathroom and into the room Carl was in. He was awake and in a lot of pain. Hershel was trying to pull one of the bullet fragments out with others trying to hold him down to keep him from moving.

"Rick, he need's blood." Maggie told Rick as she came into the room behind me. Rick rushed in and the lady named Patricia started prepping his arm so that they would be able to get blood from him and transfer it to Carl.

"Dad!" Carl cried as he continued to struggle against the people that were holding him down.

I stood there shaking; seeing him in a lot of pain scared me. He screamed out really loudly when Hershel pull at one of the bullet fragments from his side.

"Stop, you're killing him!" Rick shouted pulling away from Patricia.

"Rick, if you want him to live, he needs blood!" Hershel yelled to him.

"Do it now, Rick!" Shane shouted to him as he ran to try to hold Carl down.

Rick gave his arm back to Patricia and he put a needle inside of him. Then I heard Carl go silent. I looked over to him; he looked like he was dead.

"He just passed out." Hershel assured everyone, noticing the look on people's faces when Carl had stopped crying. Hershel pulled the bullet fragment from his side. "One down, five to go." Hershel told everyone examining the fragment.

Patricia hooked Rick up to an instrument that would transfer blood into Carl's body and sat him down next to Carl. After snapping out of shock from seeing my friend in pain, I ran to the other side of the bed and once again held Car's hand. Patricia then attached the iv to Carl's arm and Rick's blood started going into Carl's arm.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Patricia told Rick. I realized that the others had cleared out of the room leaving just her, Rick, me, and Carl. "But I can only pull so much blood from you, before you might pass out. I may need the girl to give the boy blood, too." She said referring to me. Hershel walked back in to check Carl's blood pressure.

"Pressure is almost stable." He told Rick

"Lori needs to be here. She needs to know that her son has been shot. I got to go find her.

"You can't do that." Hershel told him softly.

"She's his mother." Rick told him. "She needs to know what happened."

"He is going to need more blood." Hershel said.

"Erin has the same blood; I can just go out and be back in an instant." Rick told them.

"But I can only pull so much blood from her too." Patricia told him. "I need you both here."

"Don't let them go within fifty feet from the boy." Hershel instructed Shane.

Shane nodded, understanding. Patricia pulled the needle out of Rick's arm and Rick stood up shakily, weak from blood loss. Patricia stabled him at first, but then Shane came and took over. Patricia then motioned for me to come over. I made my way over to where Rick was sitting. Patricia switched out the needle and a different one in. She then grabbed my arm and began cleaning it off. I had a big fear of needles and normally would do my best to avoid them, but this was for Carl, so I pushed the fear aside. She stuck the needle in my arm and I began to watch as my blood began to enter Carl.

Carl actually looked peaceful, spite the situation he was in. After several minutes, Patricia checked the blood pressure and pulled the needle out.

"It's stable now." She told Hershel referring to the blood pressure. I stood up and walked back over to the other side of the bad. I knelt on the ground and continued to watch Carl. I heard Shane lead Rick out of the room. I stroked Carl's hand; it actually felt warmer than the other times I held it. That gave me a little more hope that Carl will be alright, but just a little. I knew he still had five more fragments launched into his side; even deeper than the first. I didn't want to see Carl in pain like that ever again, but I may not have a choice.

"You should probably eat something." Patricia told me. "It will give you more energy for when I need to take more blood."

"I'm not hungry." I told her continuing to stare at Carl.

"But you will be very weak after the next time I need blood, if you don't eat something." She told me.

"I will be alright." I told her. "Besides, I'm used to not eating much now. We've been short on food for awhile now."

She nodded quietly. I felt Carl's hand move in mine. I looked up at his face to see if he was awake again, but his eyes were still shut.

"Don't worry; Hershel says he's out of danger for now." Patricia said, noticing the concern on my face. I stared at Carl's face and gently reached out to touch it. His face was cold. I hated seeing him so lifeless. I just wanted him back to his normal self. I began thinking back to the event when Carl was shot; trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently that could've saved his life. I wished it was me in that bed and not him. If he died he would be leaving so much behind; his mom, his dad, the group that had become our family, and me. I have no more family in this world, so it wouldn't matter a lot if I died; it should be me in that bed, not Carl.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Four**

"Erin." I turned to see Hershel standing behind me. He knelt down beside me and put a hand on my shoulder. I was still at the side of the bed where Carl was. "Shane and Otis have gone to go get stuff that will help Carl. He is going to need surgery soon if he is to survive." I nodded without saying anything. "He's a fighter that one."

"Yeah, he is." I said quietly. I heard Rick walk in and I saw him kneel down on the opposite side of the bed. He put a hand on Carl's for head and moved the hair out of his face. After feeling Carl's cold forehead, Rick got up and walked out of the room with a worried look on his face.

"I'm going to go check on him. Stay here and keep an eye on Carl. If he wakes up or if something seems wrong, holler to me, okay?" Hershel said. I nodded in response.

A few minutes later I heard a cry at the door. I turned my head to see that it was Lori. She rushed to Carl and put her hands on his face. I felt myself start to cry again as I watched Lori climb into bed with her son and begin to cry silently. Rick took a hold of her hand to comfort her.

"Rick, I'm going to need more blood, now." Patricia said walking in. Rick nodded and went to her. Lori got off the bed to get out of their way. I watched as more of Rick's blood went into Carl. A few minutes later Hershel came in to check Carl's blood pressure again. He nodded to Patricia and she pulled the needle from Rick's arm. Rick stood up and stumbled forward.

"Slowly."Lori said stabling her husband. "How many blood transfusions have you done?"

"Only two." He replied.

"Carl is stable again for now, but next time he needs more blood, I'm going to use Erin. You are too weak for me to take any more blood." Hershel told Rick.

"You know, Carl wanted to do the same thing for you when you were in the hospital." Lori told Rick, smiling slightly. "I had to talk him out of it."

"Why don't you bring Rick out into the kitchen? I'm going to pour a glass of orange juice for him, to give him more energy." Hershel said heading into the kitchen. Lori continued keeping Rick stable as she led him out of the room.

"You too, you should really eat something." Patricia told me.

"I will eat when Carl eats." I told her not moving.

Patricia nodded sadly and walked out of the room. I notice Carl's eyes flicker a tiny bit.

"Carl?" I said quietly. There was no response; he was still out cold. I carefully got onto the bed and lay down next to him. "Hershel is going to fix you up and make you better. Don't worry. You are going to be alright." I said assuring myself more than I was trying to assure him. I leaned in closer to Carl until my forehead was touching his cheek. I could see from the window in the room that it had gotten dark outside.

I heard Hershel walk in and check Carl's blood pressure again. "His blood pressure is dropping again; we can't wait much longer." He motioned me over to transfer blood from me to Carl. I got up and sat in the chair like I did the first time and watched as Hershel stuck the needle in my arm.

"I'm going to go." Rick said walking into the room.

"Go? Go where." Lori asked him.

"Where Shane and Otis went; five miles from here." Rick told her. "They should've been back by now; something's gone wrong."

"You're insane. You are not going after them." Lori told him.

"Listen to your wife." Hershel told him. "You are in no condition to do anything about it; you've lost too much blood and you are barely on your feet. You wouldn't even make it across the yard.

"If something happened_"

"No! You are staying here." Lori said firmly, cutting her husband off. "If Shane says he'll be back, he'll be back. He's like you.

"But I just can't sit here." Rick said worriedly

"That is exactly what you are going to do!" Lori yelled at him. "You are not leaving, Rick. Carl needs you and I can't do this by myself.

I felt myself get weaker as the blood was being drawn from me. I felt very sleepy all of a sudden, but I shook myself awake. I was not going to sleep until I knew that Carl was going to be alright. Hershel pulled the needle from my arm and I got up slowly. Now all I could do was sit and wait for Shane and Otis to return with the supplies that would help Carl. I hated waiting. The anxiety was growing on the inside of me, making me feel sick. I let out a shaky sigh and sat down in one of the chairs in the room.

"If you refuse to eat, at least drink some water." Patricia said handing me a glass of water.

I agreed and began drinking some water. "Thank you." I tell her. She nodded and smiled slightly. I watched as Lori and Rick came back in to be with Carl. They began talked to each other silently. My thoughts began to drift off to Sophia. I wonder if they had found her. I hope they did. I then began to wonder about Shane and Otis; were they alright? Did they find everything they needed for Carl?

Then I heard a vehicle pull up to the house. Could it be them? I bounded from my seat, forgetting that I just did a blood transfusion, and collapsed onto the ground. Patricia was down by my side at an instant.

"Hun, you can't be moving around like that." She told me.

"Is that them? Are they back?" I asked trying to pull myself up.

"You need to sit back down." Patricia said pulling me to my feet and sitting me down in the chair. I was disappointed to see that it was just Glenn and T-Dog. Patricia left to go help T-Dog, who had gotten a bad cut when the walkers had passed by yesterday.

"If they don't get back, there is going to be a decision that you two are going to have to make." Hershel told Rick and Lori.

"What decision is that?" Lori asked.

"Whether or not to go ahead and do the surgery without the respirator." Hershel told them.

"But you said that wouldn't work." Lori said.

"It is extremely unlikely." He told her sadly. Rick and Lori left the room to make the decision. I started to cry again, realizing that there was little hope for Carl. "Like I said; I'm going to do everything I can to help your friend." Hershel assured me. He put a hand on my shoulder and then walked out of the room, leaving Carl and I alone. I got up slowly and walked to the bed, lying down beside him again. "Carl, I need you to be okay. Please, Carl. Your parents need you; I need you. You need to survive for us, Carl." I began to pray silently for Shane and Otis to return and for Carl to survive. I pressed my lips against his cheek and kissed him. "Please be okay, Carl." I whispered in his ear.

"You kissed me." I heard a voice say quietly.

I jumped back in surprise. Carl was awake. He was smiling at me.

"Carl!" I said, overjoyed to see him awake.

Lori and Rick rushed in followed by Hershel.

"Where are we?" Carl asked looking around at us his eyes stopping at Hershel.

"That's Hershel. We're in his house." Rick said smiling. I felt myself start to cry tears of happiness. Carl looked up at me concerned. "You had an accident." Rick told him.

"It hurts." Carl said shakily.

"Oh baby, I know." Lori said sadly.

"You should've seen it." Carl told Lori.

"Seen what?" Lori asked him rubbing his forehead.

"The deer; it was so pretty, mom. It was so close." He told her. "And I've never been….."

"Carl?" I asked when he stopped talking. Suddenly he started shaking rapidly. I jumped off the bed, startled. "What's wrong with him?" I asked worriedly.

"It's a seizer." Hershel told me pulling me back farther.

"Well can't you stop it?" Lori asked shaking.

"He has to go through with it." Hershel said.

I stood back and watched in horror as Carl went through the seizer. Rick held Lori in his arms to comfort her. The seizer only lasted about a minute and then Carl passed out again.

"His brain isn't getting enough blood; his pressure is plummeting."

"Okay let's do another transfusion." Rick said holding out his arm.

"If I take any more blood from you, you could go into a coma." Hershel told him.

"I don't care. Just do it!" Rick told him.

"I'll do it." I said quietly. "I have enough energy." Seeing Carl awake had given me more hope and energy.

Hershel nodded and grabbed the needle, putting it into my arm. Lori put a hand on my cheek and smiled thankfully with tears in her eyes. I smiled for the first time since Carl's been shot. "The deer Carl was talking about; it wasn't afraid of us." I told Lori. "We were able to get really close to it; almost touch it even. It looked Carl right in the eye."

Before I knew it, Hershel was already pulling the needle out of my arm. "Let's give these two some time alone with their son." Hershel said helping me to my feet. I nodded and he led me out of the room and into what looked like the living room. He set me down on one of the couches in the room. I felt really dizzy after walking over and I felt my head sway back and forth a bit.

"Easy there." Hershel said still holding on to me.

"I'm fine." I say, shaking off the dizziness.

"Alright, I'm going to go back and check on Carl, but you need to stay here." He told me getting up and walking back into the room Carl was in. A few minutes later I saw people rushing around and getting supplies.

"What's going on?" I asked Patricia who was pushing a long metal table.

"They have decided to operate on Carl without the respirators." She told me bringing the table into the room. I could hear Hershel giving instructions from inside the room. Then I felt someone sit beside me and rub my back; it was Glenn. I gave him a small hug and leaned my head on his shoulder.

"Did they find Sophia?" I asked him.

"No." Glenn replied sadly.

I nodded sadly. "What about everyone else? Are they okay?" I asked him.

"Yeah, they're alright." He told me. "They chose to stay the night on the highway incase Sophia came back."

"What about T-Dog? How's he doing?" I asked, remembering that he had a bad cut on his arm.

"He's doing better now. The lady said that we had got there just in time to save his life." Glenn told me.

"That's good." I said. "And what about you? How are you doing?" I asked him.

"Alright, I guess." He told me looking down. "Just worried."

"Me too." I told him. Then I heard a car pull up. "Is that them? Are they back?" I asked; hope starting to rise.

Glenn got up and looked out the window. "It's them!" he told me smiling.

I smiled and began crying tears of relief as Shane walked through the door carrying supplies. He was met by the others at the door.

"Carl?" Shane asked, wondering if Carl was still alive.

"There is still a chance." Rick told him thankfully helping him with the supplies.

"Otis?" Hershel asked noticing his absence. Shane shook his head sadly and looked at the ground. "We say nothing to Patricia; not till after. I need her." Hershel told them walking back into the room with the others following with the supplies. I looked down at the ground sadly. Otis had died trying to help Carl. He had felt so bad for shooting him that he was willing to go out and risk his life to save the boy. He ended up giving up his own life for him; I will always remember him for that.

Carl went into surgery soon after that. I sat there on the couch and waited for them to be done. Lori and Rick waited out on the porch. About two hours later Hershel walked out of the room and I looked at him wanting to know if Carl was going to live. Lori and Rick walked in quickly wanting to know as well.

"He seems to have stabilized." Hershel told us. Lori and Rick started crying in relief and ran up and hugged the man. I jumped up from the couch and hugged the man as well, even though I was still very weak from the blood transfusions. I was very thankful to him for saving my best friend's life. "Thank you." I told him crying even more. I have never cried so much in my life. Carl was going to be alright.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hey everyone! Sooo sorry I took soo long to update. I've been sooo crazy busy lately. I am actually on a road trip at the moment and GUESS WHAT! I am going on a Walking Dead tour in Atlanta, Georgia this Saturday! I will be getting to see several different places some of it was filmed! If any of you are interested in seeing it I will be trying to vlog it and will put it up on YouTube when I get the chance. ;D Thanks so much to everyone who is reading my story and who has reviewed it. It means so much to me! No worries. I will try to keep uploading chapters! Sorry if there is any errors. I didn't have time to check for any this time. **

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Five**

_(Carl's Pov.)_

"Fever's gone down." I hear a man's voice say as a hand ran over my forehead.

I shifted in the bed a little bit. "Baby?" I heard my mom's voice and slowly opened my eyes to see her, Dad, and the man named Hershel.

I then remembered Sophia and began wondering if they had found her. "Is Sophia okay?"

"She's fine." Dad told me after a few seconds.

"Rest, we will be right here." Mom told me.

"Where's Erin?" I asked. I kept thinking about when she kissed me. I could still remember the feel of her warm lips on my cheek.

"She's asleep." Dad told me. "She was really exhausted from yesterday. She hardly left your side the entire time."

"She also helped save your life." Mom told me. "She gave you a lot of blood."

"She did?" I asked. "But Erin is afraid of needles."

"She didn't seem to be afraid when they stuck the needle into her a few times. I think she was just really worried about you and forgot about her fear in order to help you." Dad told me. I smiled thinking about Erin helping me. "Now you should probably get some more sleep to."

I nodded. "Okay." I closed my eyes and soon drifted back to sleep.

_(Erin's Pov.)_

I had fallen asleep last night on the couch and didn't wake up until I heard the noise of more vehicles showing up. I slowly sat up and walked to the window. Daryl, Andrea, Dale, and Carol were here. I walked outside to greet them.

"Carl's alright. He's going to make it." I told them smiling. "Did you find Sophia?"

"No, but we left some food and drinks along with a note in case she returns to the highway." Daryl replied. "We are going to go back and check every day."

I nodded as the others walked outside to greet them. We caught them up on everything that was happening. We told them everything that happened with Carl and how Hershel and his people had saved him, we told them about Otis and that he died trying to get supplies for Carl, and we told them about how Shane came just in time with the supplies.

"We are going to have a funeral for Otis outside." Hershel said to everyone sadly. Then he knelt down beside me. "I want you to stay inside. You are still very weak from the blood transfusions and I need someone to keep an eye on Carl still, just in case."

I nodded and slowly walked into Carl's room as everyone else was going outside for Otis' funeral. I took a seat by the bed and watched Carl sleep.

"Hello, Erin." I jumped startled to find out that Carl wasn't actually sleeping. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at me.

"Gosh, you scared me." I told him calming myself back down.

"Sorry." Carl told me.

"It's not just this." I told him. "I thought you were going to die! I was so afraid I was going to lose you. Don't ever scare me like that again!" I said crossing my arms at him.

Carl laughed a little. "Sorry, Erin, I didn't mean to."

"It's fine; it's not even your fault. I told him quietly. "You just had me so scared."

"My dad said you helped save me." He told me.

"No, Hershel and his people did all that, as well as Shane and Otis…" I told him.

"But you gave me blood." He said smiling. "You conquered your fear of needles."

"Oh, I guess I did." I said smiling back at him. "I just didn't want to lose you."

Carl blushed looking me in the eyes. "You….you kissed me."

I blushed too, remembering. "Yeah." I say quietly standing up a bit too quickly to avoid looking back into his eyes; I fell forward due to yesterday's transfusions and landed with a thud on the ground.

"Erin! Are you okay?" Carl asked me, looking at me with concern.

"I'm fine." I told him pulling myself back onto my feet. "Just a bit weak that's all."

"Why?" Carl asked me.

"Lack of food and lack of blood." I told him. "From the blood transfusions."

"Oh. Maybe sleeping some more will help." Carl told me. He scooted over on the bed. "Let's get some sleep." He told me patting the side of the bed.

"Are….you sure?" I asked him. "I mean you're still hurt. What if I_"

"I'm sure." He said interrupting me. I nodded and slowly climbed into the bed facing him, looking at the bandages on his bare chest.

"Does it hurt?" I asked him sadly.

"A little, but not as bad as it did." He told me. "You can touch it if you want."

"But won't that hurt?" I asked him looking up at his face.

"Not anymore than it already is." He told me. He then took my hand and ran it over the bandages. "See? Not so bad."

"Not so bad? You were shot." I told him as he continued to run my hand over the bandages.

"I'll be alright." He said giving me a reassuring smile. I smiled back and then he did something I didn't think he would ever do. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against my forehead. "That's payback for early." He told me with a small smile, blushing. I turned so that my back was facing him and soon fell asleep.

_(Carl's Pov.)_

I watched as Erin continued to sleep. She hasn't woken up at all since she's fallen asleep. My mom had been in and out a few times to check if I was okay. She smiled when she saw Erin asleep next to me.

"Where's Dad? I asked her quietly, not wanting to wake Erin.

"Well, you know when he told you earlier that Sophia was alright?" she asked me.

"Yeah." I tell her nodding.

"They haven't found her yet." Mom told me sadly. "He told you that so you wouldn't worry."

"Oh." I say sadly.

"I'm sure we will find her, though. It's only been a few days. She bound to show up sometime." My mom assured me.

I nodded. "Is he out looking for her?" I asked her referring to Dad,

"Yes." She answered. "I'm going to go see what I can do to help."

"Okay." I replied.

She walked up to the door and looked back at me. "I love you, Carl." She told me.

"I love you, too." I replied and gave her a small smile. She smiled back and then walked out of the room. I noticed Erin shiver, so I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to my body to keep her warm. Soon I was asleep too. I woke up a few hours later when I heard my dad walk in. Erin was still fast asleep; she must have been really tired.

"Hey, Dad." I smiled at my dad as he took a seat in a chair beside the bed.

"Hey." He said quietly smiling back, but then he got serious. "Carl, about what I said early about Sophia_"

"I know." I told him. "Mom told me."

"I didn't mean to lie; I just didn't want to worry you." He whispered. "It's a stupid excuse, but that's all I got."

"It's okay." I assured him. "Do you think we'll find her?" I asked him.

"I truly believe that we will find her." He replied.

"You look tired." I tell him noticing he looked like he needed sleep.

"Yeah, I am." He said laughing.

"Hey, I'm like you now." I tell him remembering that he was shot too. "We've both been shot." I say laughing. "Isn't that weird?"

My dad laughed. "Yeah, I rather your mother hear that we have the same minds between us." I laughed a bit more. "Since you're in the club, now you get to wear the hat." He took his hat and placed it on my head. I smiled as I tried to adjust it so that it would stay on my head. "We can adjust the rim tomorrow, so that it would fit better." He told me.

"Won't you miss it?" I asked him.

"Maybe I can borrow it from time to time." He said smiling.

"We can share it." I told him smiling. Then I felt Erin shift, still sleeping.

"Alright, well you two should probably get more sleep." He told me smirking at Erin and I.

"Okay." I reply laughing. I took the covers and pulled them up higher on Erin and I. Then I took the hat and placed it over my eyes, like cowboys would do when they would take naps. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you." He whispers back, shutting his eyes so that he could sleep a little too. Erin turns over in her sleep and leans her head on my bare chest. I could feel the warm skin on her face against my chest. I feel my face heat up. Luckily, I don't think anyone would notice me blush with the hat on my face; not that there was anyone awake in the room anyway. I moved my hand from her back and up to her black hair and began running my fingers through it. It felt really soft.

I stop when I hear my dad walk out of the room; I guess he wasn't asleep after all. I hope he didn't notice Erin leaning her head on my chest and me playing with her hair. I felt my face grow warm at the thought and closed my eyes. I would be really embarrassed if he noticed and I would probably never hear the end of it. It wasn't long before I drifted back to sleep.

_(Erin's Pov.)_

I woke up feeling warmth on my face. I opened my eyes and saw that I was leaning on Carl's chest. I blushed and slowly got up. The sun was shining through the windows, making the room feel warm.

"Where are you going?" a voice asked me.

I turned to see Carl awake and looking at me. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Well you slept through most of yesterday and completely through the night." Carl told me smirking.

"It's the next day already?" I asked shocked that I had slept that long.

"Yeah, you slept like a rock." Carl said laughing causing me to blush more.

"Where is everyone else?" I asked.

"They are going to go look for Sophia more." He told me.

"They haven't found her yet?" I asked sadly. Carl shook his head sadly. "We'll find her, Eventually." I say trying to sound hopeful.

Carl began to stare at me.

"What?" I ask starting to feel uncomfortable.

"Nothing….just…..what was it like to be alone in the city when everything happened?" He asked me.

I was taken aback by the question. "Well, for me, it was terrifying. I was really scared, not knowing when my uncle was going to be back and not knowing what was going on."

"Do you miss your uncle?" he asked me.

"Yes, but I try not to think about it and when I do, I remind myself that he isn't suffering anymore and that he's in a better place." I told him. Carl nodded not saying anything. "Anyway, what was it like for you when everything started?"

"Well, that day my mom kept me home from school and told me to start packing. She didn't tell me why, she just told me to pack. So I began packing myself a bag and my mom came in and helped me. I asked her what was going on and she told me that we were going to go for a trip and that it may be awhile before we came back. I then remember asking about Dad, because he was in the hospital from being shot and I didn't want to leave him. That's when she told me he was dead. I remember crying for hours. Shane came to the house sometime in the afternoon and began loading our stuff into his truck. Soon we were off. I began asking more questions about what was going on and why we were leaving all of a sudden. They told me that we were going to a refugee center because the disease broke out and we weren't safe at home anymore. We didn't get too far before we reached a group of cars that were complete stopped on the road; huge traffic jam. It prevented anyone from going forward. We waited for an hour, hoping that the vehicles would start moving, but they didn't. Mom and I stepped out of the car and Shane turned on the radio. It was already getting dark outside and some people from other cars were starting to get nervous. I met Sophia that day. Her family was in the vehicle in front of ours. We began talking and soon we became friends. Then I remember hearing loud sounds that sounded almost like thunder." He told me.

"Explosions. I remember hearing them from my apartment building." I told him.

"Yeah, that's when Shane and Mom went to go and check it out. When they came back the looked worried and told me that we were going to find a safe place for the night. Mom told Sophia's family too. We turned around and headed up to where our camp was." He finished.

"Wow." I said.

"What is this house like?" Carl asked changing the subject. "I never got to see what it was like. Is it safe?"

"It looks safe." I told him. "There is a lot of land, farm animals, warm water, and no walkers. The place seems like it was never even affected by the things going on."

Carl smiled at me getting excited. "Really?"

"Yeah." I said smiling back. "It's a very nice place. I can't wait to show you around, once you're up and around again."

"I can't wait either." Carl told me. "Hey, do you want to play a game?"

"Sure, what game?" I ask him.

"How about truth or dare?" he asked me.

"I don't think you're in any condition to do any of the dares that I come up with." I told him laughing.

Carl laughed too. "Maybe you can take it easy on the dares then."

"Alright." I told him smirking. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." He answered.

I began to think of something to ask him. "Hmmm, is it true that you have a crush on Sophia?

Carl chuckled a little. "No, but she's a good friend and I miss her a lot." He answered. I nodded. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." I replied.

"Is it true that you have had a crush on someone before?" he asked me.

"I'm not sure. I don't think I have ever had a crush on anyone before all this happened." I told him. Carl's face lit up.

"You said before all of this happened." Carl told me. "Does that mean you like someone now?"

I blushed faced the other way. "One question at a time." I told him laughing slightly. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth." He replied.

"What about you; have you ever had a crush on anyone?" I asked him.

"Yes, one person." He replied. I noticed his face begin to turn red.

"What was her name?" I asked him.

"One question at a time." He said smirking, mocking what I had said earlier. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare." I told him wanting to avoid the question he tried to ask earlier.

Carl smirked. "I dare you to kiss me on the mouth."

I felt my face get really hot. "What?"

"I dare you to kiss me." Carl told me, looking like he knew I wouldn't do it.

"Okay." I said quietly.

"What? seriously?" Carl asked, shocked that I was actually going to do it.

"Why not?" I asked moving closer to Carl. I could see his face getting redder than I have ever seen it before. I felt mine grow warmer as well as I leaned down to kiss him. I stopped when I was about an inch away from kissing him. I could feel his breath on my lips.

"Erin!" I heard someone shot my name. I jumped away from Carl, hoping that no one would see that I was about to kiss Carl. "Oh Erin, there you are. Do you want to…..what are you two doing in here?" It was Carol.

"We were….." I started saying.

"Playing a game." Carl finished smiling.

Carol looks at us both funny. "Okay…..Anyway, Erin; I was wondering if you would like to help me cook dinner tonight for everyone?"

"Sure." I said beaming. I was really hungry since I hadn't eaten in awhile and was really wanting to help cook.

"Can I help too?" Carl asked sitting up in the bed. "I feel well enough to walk around."

"Uh….well sure, if Hershel says it's alright as well as your parent, then sure." She smiled.

"Yes!" Carl said. "I will ask them when I see them."

"Alright. We should start cooking in the afternoon, so make sure you two are around at that time." Carol told us before she walked back out of the room.

We sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before Carl spoke up. "Um….so….about the dare…."

"Game's over." I told him laughing.

Carl looked slightly disappointed but still laughed. "But you didn't do your dare."

"Next time." I told him laughing more. "Besides it may have made things awkward between us if I had done it."

"Maybe, but I would've like it." Carl said quietly blushing more.

"Really?" I asked him, blushing too.

Carl responded by nodding quickly and then changing the subject. "Can you help me up? I want to see if I can walk around a little."

"Okay." I told him walking over to the bed and sitting down. Carl put his arm around my shoulder to stabilize himself and I helped him stand up. He stumbled a little but quickly regained his balance. I slowly help him walk around the room. "You okay?" I ask him, making sure he wasn't in any pain.

"Yeah, feels great to finally be out of that bed." Carl told me smiling. "Can we go into a different room?"

"Sure." I reply smiling and I slowly lead him into the living.

"Well look who's up and about." I heard Hershel say. "How are you feeling?"

Carl smiled at him. "Great."

"Ready to race?" Hershel asked jokingly.

"Give me another day or so and I will be." Carl said back. I laughed at the two of them.

"How about I get you two some breakfast? I know it's been awhile since you two have eaten." Hershel told us smiling. We nodded eagerly and I led Carl to the table and sat him down in one of the chairs. I took a seat next to him as I watched Hershel walk into the kitchen. It wasn't long before he came back with two peanut butter sandwiches and two glasses of orange juice. We thanked Hershel and ate our sandwiches.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Six**

"Where's Daryl? I haven't seen him all day." I asked Carol. She, Carl, and I had started to cook dinner for everyone. Carol had me and Carl washing vegetables and she was beginning to cut the ones we had already washed.

"He's been looking for Sophia." Carol said softly.

"Oh." I say quietly.

"So what are we going to cook tonight?" Carl asked Carol, trying to take her mind off Sophia.

"Well I was thinking about cooking some ham, mash potatoes, and cooked vegetables." Carol answered with a small smile.

"Yum, that sounds good. Kind of reminds me of a Thanksgiving dinner." I tell her getting excited.

"Thanksgiving…..isn't that coming up sometime soon?" Carl asked as he grabbed a carrot and began to wash it off.

"It's hard to keep track of days now, but I do believe it's coming up sometime soon." Carol said trying to remember. "Maybe, Hershel has a calendar somewhere and we can look it up."

"What's your favorite Thanksgiving memory?" I asked Carol.

"Well, I think my favorite Thanksgiving would be when Ed was out one year on a hunting trip, leaving Sophia and I to alone to enjoy our Thanksgiving together." Carol answered. "Ed was never a good father, so Sophia and I felt more comfortable when he was not around."

I nodded. "What about you?" I asked Carl?

"Hmmm, probably the time when all of my family came to our house one year; my cousins, grandparents, aunts, uncles; everyone. My house was filled with family members. My cousins and I played football while the rest of my family was inside helping cook the meal. Then we all came inside when everything was ready and ate until we felt sick." Carl told me laughing. I laughed and Carol chuckled a little. "What about you, Erin?"

I thought back to my favorite thanks giving memory. "Most of my Thanksgivings were spent with other soldiers that my dad worked with. All of my Thanksgivings were fun and interesting, but I will have to say that my favorite Thanksgiving would have to be when my parents and I went to my uncle's apartment to have Thanksgiving there. My dad had offered to cook for once and he ended up charring the turkey and destroying my uncle's oven." I told them laughing. "We ended up having to get McDonalds that year."

Carl and Carol were left laughing, "That sounds more like a bad Thanksgiving." Carl told me.

"Nah, it was the best. It was a really fun and hilarious day." I say laughing more.

Carol went to the fridge and pulled out the ham. She walked over to the already heated oven and stuck the ham inside. "It may be a few hours till this is ready. Why don't you two start peeling the potatoes?" Carol suggested.

"Sure." Carl says. I replied by nodding. Carl and I walked over to the counter where the potatoes were and began carefully peeling the skin off. "Can we still do Thanksgiving this year?" Carl asks.

"You know, that actually isn't a bad idea." Carol said smiling. "It would help take things off people's minds for one day. It could give them something to look forward to as well." Carol told him. "Maybe we could even find a turkey to cook up."

"That sounds like fun." I said smiling.

"Carl! What are you doing out of bed?" a voice said from behind us. We turned to see Lori looking shocked and worried.

"Mom, we were just cooking…." Carl started to tell her.

"No, I want you back in bed. You should still be resting." Lori told him.

"But…"

"Now." Lori said firmly. Carl sadly began to walk out of the room.

"I'm sorry, Lori, I thought you knew." Carol said.

"I didn't" Lori told her. "It's alright. It's not your fault."

"I'm going to go check on Carl." I told them.

"When I'm finished cooking dinner, I will bring you both a plate to eat in the room." Carol said smiling.

"Thank you." I replied and smiled back at her.

"Lori, would you like to help me?" Carol asked her as I began walking out of the room "Sure." I heard Lori respond.

I walked into the room where Carl was. He sitting on the bed moping.

"I don't want to rest." Carl told me. "I want to be helping you and Carol cook."

"It's fine. You mom took over for us." I told him.

"You're not going to help them anymore?" Carl asked me.

"I decided to keep you company, because it probably wouldn't be too fun to be all alone in this room all day." I told him.

"True." Carl smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem." I smiled back. Carl lay back on the bed and got under the covers. "Why didn't you ask your mom if you could cook?"

"Because I knew she would say no." Carl responded. "She worries about me too much. She is a little overly protective."

"Yeah, but she's like that because you are her son and she loves you and cares for you." I told him.

"Yeah, I know." Carl replied. "What was it like to lose both your parents at once?"

I was taken aback by his question. "Well, at first I thought it wasn't really happening; like it was all just a bad dream and that I would have my parents back, but then I started to realize it was real and I became really sad and scared."

"Scared?"Carl looks as me confused.

"Yeah, scared. I didn't know what was going to happen to me who was going to take care of me, but then my uncle came and adopted me. I spent the first few weeks pretty depressed about my parents and then I started to move on realizing that I had to live with it. At first it's hard to lose someone you care about, but there comes a time where you have to just accept that they are gone and move on with your life." I finished.

"I'm sorry." Carl told me. "About you parents, about your uncle, everyone."

"It's alright." I told him giving a reassuring smile.

"You are a part of our family now, Erin. We will take care of you." Carl told me. "I won't ever leave you."

I felt my eyes get a little watery and I smiled. "Thanks, Carl." I told him softly. "I should probably find out where I am going to be sleeping tonight." I say standing up.

"You could sleep in here with me." Carl told me. "There's plenty of room, and like you said, it's not as fun to be in here alone."

I laugh. "Would your parents be okay with it? Wouldn't they want to sleep in here with you?"

"They wouldn't mind. They are sleeping outside in tents." Carl replied.

"Okay, I go get my stuff and bring it in here." I told Carl. Carl nodded and I went outside to get my stuff from the back of the car. Andrea was on top of the R.V. keeping watch, Glenn and Dale were inside the R.V. talking, and Rick was discussing things with some of the others. I opened the back of the car and grabbed my back pack.

"Walker!" Andrea shouted standing up. She pointed to a figure that was walking out of the woods and beginning to cross the field. It was hard to see it from back where I was.

"Just that one?" Rick asked her looking over to where she was pointing.

Andrea grabbed the binoculars and peered through them. "Yeah, I think I can nail it from here." She told him picking up a rifle and aiming it.

"No, Andrea! Put the gun down." Rick told her. Andrea put the rifle down aggregately.

"Yeah, you better let us deal with it." Shane told her. He, T-Dog, and Glenn were already beginning to walk out to it with weapons.

"No, Hershel wants to deal with walkers." Rick told them.

"What for? We got it covered." Shane told him continuing to walk towards the walker.

Rick cursed under his breath realizing that they didn't have much an option. He grabbed his knife and began to run out with the others. I notice Andrea aim the Rifle again.

"Andrea, Rick said no." I told her nervously. I walked up to the side of the R.V. to get a better view.

"I can do this." Andrea ignored me. She lay down on the top of the R.V. to get a better aim.

"Andrea don't" Dale told her.

"Back off, Dale." She muttered as she peered through the scope.

"Andrea, I don't think it's a good idea." I warned her.

Then she fired and the figure crumbled to the ground. Andrea smiled triumphantly.

"NO!" Rick shouted from the field. Andrea's smile fell. People began running out from the house.

"Rick!" Lori shouted worriedly as she got closer.

"What on earth is going on out here?" Hershel shouted angrily. I grabbed the knife that Carl had given me and began sprinting towards Rick and the others. Dale and Andrea followed close behind. The figure that Andrea had shot down was Daryl.

"Is he dead?" Andrea asked worriedly when she reached them.

"Unconscious." Rick answered as he began to haul Daryl back with help from some of the others. "You just grazed him."

"What's on his neck?" I asked pointing at the strange necklace he was wearing.

"Are those ears?" Glenn asked looking closer. "He's wearing ears." He said shocked.

"Oh my gosh, he is." I confirmed it.

Rick tore the necklace from Daryl's neck. "Let's keep that to ourselves." He told us quietly. Some of the others had begun running out to us.

"Guys." T-Dog spoke from behind us. We turned to see him holding up a doll. It looked like Sophia's! "Isn't this Sophia's?"

"It is!" I said excitedly.

"Come on let's get back to the others." Rick told them. "We can ask Daryl about it when he wakes up."

They headed back into the house with Daryl. Hershel had them bring him into a room with a spare bed.

"What happened to "no guns"?" Hershel asked angrily.

"I'm sorry, I just thought…." Andrea started to say but then Rick interrupted.

"I should've kept a better eye on that." Rick told him. "I will make sure to keep better track on that."

"I would make sure you do." Hershel told him as he started to attend to Daryl. I left the room and walked into Carl's room with my stuff. Carl was sitting up on his bed looking worried.

"Erin! Are you alright? I heard a gunshot. Is my dad alright?" Carl started to ask me questions about what happened.

"Yeah, I'm alright and your dad is too. Daryl just got grazed a little bit." I told him.

"They shot Daryl?" Carl asked.

"Well, accidently. Andrea thought he was a walker." I told him.

"Is he going to be alright?" Carl asked.

"Physically? Yes. Mentally? I have no idea. He came out of the woods wearing ears." I told him.

"Ears?" Carl looked at me confused.

"Yeah, he had ears from walkers hanging from his neck." I told him.

"Eww." Carl said looking sick.

I set my back pack on the ground and took a seat next to Carl on the bed. "He found Sophia's doll."

"He did?" Carl asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Yes." I told him smiling. I saw his eyes light up at that. We both felt more hopeful about finding Sophia. I grabbed some blankets and began laying them out on the ground.

"What are you doing?" Carl asks me.

"I am making a place for me to sleep." I told him then I laughed. "I would think that would be obvious."

"Well it is…but…"Carl started but then stopped himself.

"But what?" I stopped laying out the blankets and looked up at him.

"It's nothing." Carl said turning away from me and facing the wall.

"No, tell me." I told him getting up on the bed and hovering over him.

"I just thought…..no it's stupid." Carl said. He tried to avoid looking at me and hides his face in pillow.

"Who cares if it's stupid? I'm the only one that would know." I assured him.

He turns over so that he is facing me as I continue to hover over him. "I just thought….you would be sleeping with me." He told me sounding disappointed. He was trying hard to avoid eye contact with me.

"We are sleeping together." I told him confused not understanding what he meant. "That's why I was setting up a place to sleep."

"No, I mean I thought you would sleep with me in the bed." He said quietly turning back over again.

"Oh." I say quietly

"Told you it was stupid." He said burying his head farther into the pillow.

"No, it's not." I assured him. "Um…if you want, I can sleep with you. Besides, it would probably be cold and hard on the ground."

Carl looks up at me, eyes wide. "Really?"

"Sure, why not?" I replied smiling. Carl's face lit up and a big smile.

Suddenly Carol walks in carrying two plates of food and me and Carl jump away from each other. "Here, I brought you two some food. Thought you might be…why are you smiling so much?" Carol asked looking at Carl with an amused look in her eyes.

Carl's face get's bright red. "Oh….just…happy that Daryl found Sophia's doll. I really think that we will find her now."

Carol smiled slightly but I could tell by the look in her eyes that she lost hope in finding Sophia. "Well, I am going to go sit out with the others. Enjoy your meals." She told us as she walked out the room. Carl and I began eating the food. It tasted amazing; the best I've had in weeks. It was even better than the food we got from the CDC.

"Wow…Carol is a good cook." Carl said taking another bite of his ham.

"Very." I replied. "It tastes amazing."

We went through the rest of the food very quickly.

"Here, I will go bring the plates back out to the kitchen." I said taking both the plates and walking into the kitchen. I saw that Patricia, Maggie, and the girl Beth were all washing the dishes and cleaning up so I gave the plates to them and began to head back to the room. On the way back I saw Glenn carrying some blankets out the door with a big smile on his face. I followed him out the door.

"Hey, Glenn. What's up?" I called out from behind him. Glenn spun around startled with his eyes wide.

"What are you doing?" he asked nervously.

"I don't know. You seem to be extra happy so I wanted to see what was going on." I replied.

"Nothing is going on." He said a little too quickly. "Just going on a small walk."

I looked at him suspiciously. "Oh okay. Can I come too?"

"NO!" He blurted out.

"Okay…." I said slowly turning back towards the house.

"Sorry, it's just…I want to be alone right now." He told me.

"It's fine; I understand." I told him.

Glenn nodded and started heading towards the barn. I began to walk back towards the house. When I got to the porch I was nearly knocked over by Maggie who came sprinting out of the house and towards the barn.

"Whoa, sorry." I say but she ignores me and keeps going. "Okay then…." I whispered to myself. I walked back into the house and back into Carl's room. I saw that Lori and Rick were in there with him sitting at the edge of the bed.

"Erin, Hershel says I'm okay to move around more tomorrow! I'm allowed to go outside! You can show me around the farm!" Carl says happily.

"But you can't be running around Carl. I want you to stay close to me." Lori told him. Carl looks down disappointed.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Lori. He's got Erin. She'll take care of him." Rick told her.

Lori looked around at everyone in the room looking at her waiting for her approval and sighed. "Alright, but always stay with Erin, and if anything happens, yell as loud as you can."

"Yes!" Carl said throwing his hands around his mom's neck. I smiled excitedly.

"Alright now you two should get some sleep." Rick said standing up. Lori kissed Carl's forehead and walked out of the room with Rick.

Carl looked at me excited. "I can't believe she said yes." He told me.

"Maybe she sees you're growing up and able to do more things on your own." I told him laughing.

"Yeah, I believe I am becoming a man now." He told me sticking his chest out.

I laughed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. You have a long way to go before you become a man."

Carl looked at me with mock hurt. "Come on, Erin, you know I'm manly." He said jokingly. "So manly, you can't take your eyes off me."

"In your dreams." I reply laughing.

"Just admit it, Erin. You think I'm manly and handsome." Carl said laughing.

"Nah, I'm good." I reply sitting on the bed.

Carl lies down. "Fine, then." I get up and turn off the lights. Then I walk back and lay down on the bed making sure not to get too close to Carl. "What's wrong, Erin? I don't bite." Carl says slyly.

"I do." I replied laughing. "You seem to be in a playful mood tonight."

"Well, yeah. I'm happy I'm able to get out of this bed tomorrow and go outside." He said scooting closer to me. I feel my face heat up turn away so that my back is facing him.

"Yeah, I would hate not being able to leave bed for a long time." I told him.

I felt Carl begin to play with my hair. "Your hair is soft." He told me.

"Um….thanks. I would say the same, but I don't think I've ever touched your hair." I said laughing a little.

"It's not as soft as yours." He told me quietly. "You can feel it is you like."

I turn around and place my hand on his head, feeling his hair. "It's soft too." I told him removing my hand. I blush at how close we are to each other. Luckily it's too dark for Carl to notice. I turn back around and face away from Carl. "Goodnight, Carl." I tell him.

"Goodnight Erin." he whispered back. I could feel is breath on the back of my neck as I fell asleep and then the nightmare begins…


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Seven**

_(Carl's Pov.)_

I woke up to Erin crying and turning violently.

"Erin?" I whisper. "You alright?" There was no reply. I sit up and look over to see her face. It looked like she was still sleeping. She must be having a nightmare. "Erin, wake up." I began shaking her. She continued crying. "Erin, wake up!" I say louder. This time she shoots up with her eyes wide. She pulls away from me and jumps out of bed. She backs into a corner of the room and kneels down, crying. I get out of bed and kneel down beside her. "Erin?"

"No, no, no, no…" Erin mumbled scooting farther away from me.

"Erin, what is it?" I asked, feeling more concerned.

Suddenly Erin seemed to snap back into the real world. "Carl?" she said sounding uncertain.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's me."

She reached out and ran her fingers across my face. "Oh, it was just a dream." She said sounding very relieved. She wiped her tears with her face and stood up.

I stood up next to her. "Erin, what happened? You were freaking out."

"Just a bad dream." She mumbled. She sounded like she was saying that to reassure herself more than me.

"Do you…want to talk about it?" I asked her gently.

"No." she said quickly, shaking her head. Just then Mom came rushing in.

"Carl? Are you alright?" Mom asked me looking very worried. "We heard screaming."

"Well, I'm_"

"We're fine." Erin said, cutting me off. "I just had a bad nightmare; that's all. I'm sorry I startled you." Erin said with her head facing the ground.

"Ah, I'm sorry, honey." She told Erin pulling her into a long hug. "It's alright."

"Thanks." Erin replied forcing a smile.

"Well, now that you're both up; how would you two like to come with me to feed some chickens?" Mom asked us smiling.

"Yes!" I said excitedly.

"Sure." Erin nodded.

"Good. Now get dressed, and I will meet you outside." My mom said walking out of the room.

"You sure you're okay?" I asked Erin when my mom was out of the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare; that's all." She told me with a smile.

"Alright."

_(Erin's Pov.)_

The dream felt so real. I thought everything was really happening. Everyone was either walkers or being eaten by walkers; Rick, Lori, Andrea, Dale, Carol, Sophia, T-Dog, Glenn, Daryl….Carl…all of them gone. They were all dead and I was alone again. The people that were once my family were trying to eat me alive. It was terrifying. The worst of it was seeing my best friend be eaten and then die, only to come back as one of them. I wasn't able to try to save him or do anything about it. I could not get the sound of his screams and cries out of my head or the image of him being eaten alive… At least it was only a dream…but in the back of my head…something kept telling me it's bound to happen sometime, but there is no way I will ever be ready for that.

I pushed those thoughts aside. Now was not the time to be worried about that. I should be thankful that I have them with me now; well everyone but Sophia who is still missing. That is what I should be worried about; Sophia. She has been gone for at least three days. She is probably feeling scared, alone, and hopeless…

Carl and I met Lori outside who was carrying two buckets of wheat for the chickens. She led us over to the chicken pen.

"Okay, I am going to give each of you a bucket, and when we get in there you can throw the wheat down to the chickens." Lori told us handing each of us a bucket. She then turned and slowly opened the gate to the pen and walked inside. Carl eagerly followed her in and I slowly followed behind him. Of course I have seen chickens before, but I have never been in the same pen as them; there has always been a fence between them and me. I made sure to shut the gate behind me to make sure none of them got out, but to my surprise, there were no chickens to be seen.

"Where are all the chickens?" I asked looking up at Lori.

"Oh they're just over_" before she could finish all these chickens came running out from behind the chicken coop straight towards Carl and I…

_(Carl's Pov.)_

As soon as Erin saw the chickens coming towards us, she immediately dropped the bucket, and ran away screaming. She ran straight for the fence and then jumped over it, landing in some mud.

My mom and I gave her an amused look before bursting out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Erin said standing up and wiping the mud off her pants.

"You are." I told her laughing harder. "I've never seen anyone react that way with chickens before." The chickens were swarming around where Erin had dropped the wheat. Most of them were pretty small; must have only been a few weeks old. There weren't too many adult ones. "Haven't you ever seen chickens before?"

"Of course I have…through a fence." Erin replied laughing a little herself.

"Look at them, they won't hurt you." I said throwing some wheat to them.

"Are you kidding me? Did you see how they charged at us? They were charging at us like a bull!" she told me walking a little closer to the fence.

"A bull? Really?" I asked her laughing harder.

"Yeah…just with a bit of a size difference…" she replied.

I handed my bucket to my mom and picked up one of the babies. "See? They are harmless." I told her walking up to where she was standing behind the fence.

Erin backed away from the fence a bit. "I think that's close enough."

"Erin it's just a baby, here." I held out my free hand to her. She looked at me questioningly. "It's alright; it won't bite." Erin nods and slowly gives me her hand. I took her hand and placed it on the baby chicken. "See? Harmless."

Erin giggles a little. "It's really soft."

I smile and nod. "Want to come back inside, now?"

Erin looks over my shoulder to where the other chickens are. "I'm not sure."

"Come on, they won't hurt you, I promise." I told her.

"Alright." She said. She walked over to the gate and opened it. She slowly walked inside and shut the gate behind her. She walked over to where I was. I set the baby chicken I was holding and it ran back to where the others were feeding.

"Come on." I told her grabbing her hand and leading her over to the group of chickens. I took the bucket back from my mom and through some more wheat out to them. "Here, try it." I told Erin handing her some wheat. She looked at me for a second before tossing some to the chickens. She giggled when she saw them run over to where she threw the wheat and began eating it.

I laughed and looked over to my mom. She looked worried. Every so often she would look up to scan the perimeter of the farm.

"Don't look so worried." I told her throwing out some more wheat for the chickens.

She looked up at me. "It's my job." She told me before looking around a bit more.

"No it's not." I told her. "You're a housewife."

She smiled and threw some wheat at me. "Yeah, punk? Do you see my house around here?"

I laughed and continue throwing more wheat out. Then I noticed that the baby chickens were not really hanging around any of the adult chickens. None of them were their mom. They were just kind of wandering by themselves. "They don't have a mother." I said.

"Well she might be somewhere else." Mom told me.

"Maybe she got eaten."I told her. Erin stopped feeding the chickens and looked up at me. "Everything is food for something else." I told them shrugging. Erin looked back towards the ground with a frown on her face. "What's wrong?" I asked her.

She looked back up at me. "Oh, nothing." She smiled. "Just thinking."

"Well I think I am going to go see what everyone else is up to." Mom said walking over to the gate. "When you're finished you can just set the buckets down outside the gate."

"Alright." I told her. She smile and nodded before walking away.

"I can show you around the farm now, if you want to."Erin told me smiling.

"Okay!" I replied. We set the buckets on the outside of the gate and then began to walk around the farm. The place was big. It had many farm animals, a garden filled with edible foods, several wells, a generator system, and no walkers. The place seems pretty well protected. It seems like it has been very isolated from what has been going on in the outside world. The place seems…safe.

_(Erin's Pov.) _

"So needles and chickens…" Carl said me as we started to walk back towards the house.

"What?" I asked confused.

"You are afraid of needles and chickens." Carl said smirking a bit.

"I guess so." I said laughing a bit.

"What else are you afraid of?" Carl asked me more serious.

I took a few seconds the think about it before answering. "I'm afraid of losing people I care for most, and I'm afraid of being alone." I replied honestly. "What about you? What are you afraid of?"

"Being eaten alive and losing my family and my friends…and losing you." He told me with his head facing the ground.

I nodded. "I don't think you will be losing any of us anytime soon." I told him smiling. "This place…it feels…safe."

"Yeah it does." He smiled at me. "And you don't have to worry about being alone because I will never let you be alone. I will try my best to always be there with you." Carl told me sincerely. I stopped walking. Carl stopped and looked back at me with concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just…thanks Carl." I walked up to him and placed a kiss on his cheek before pulling him into a hug. "I needed to hear that." I whispered in his ear. He put his arms around me and pulled me closer before we pulled away. I could see his face was bright red; mine probably was too.

We continued on walking without saying anything until we reached the R.V. Rick, Shane, and a teenage boy were standing around a hood of a truck talking.

"What do you think they are talking about?" I asked Carl.

"Probably more places to look for Sophia. Let's get closer so we can find out." Carl told me. We got closer so that we could hear them better. Carl picked up a stick and began sharpening it with a knife that Rick had let him have and leaned against the R.V.

From the other side of the truck where they were talking, Patricia and the teenage girl, Beth, walked up. "We would like to join you in gun training today." She told them.

"Hershel has been very clear. I can't involve any of you with what we do without his okay." Rick told them.

"He doesn't like it, but he consented." Beth told him.

"Otis was the only one who knew guns. Now that he's gone, we got to learn to protect ourselves." Patricia told them. "Her father saw the sense in that."

Rick nodded. "No offense, but I am still going to ask Hershel myself."

They nodded understanding. Then Shane noticed us by the R.V. and walked up to us.

"Hey, what are you guys up to?" he greeted us.

"Nothing, I just got done showing Carl around the farm." I told him stepping a few feet away from the R.V.

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice place." Shane said looking at the scenery.

"I want to learn how to shoot too." Carl told him, referring to the conversation about gun training. "Can you teach me?"

"Well that's up to your parents." Shane said leaning up against the R.V.

"Can you ask them for me?" Carl asked. "They will listen to you."

Shane chuckled a little. "We'll see, okay?" Carl nodded and began walking away. "Hey, let me see what you got there."

I looked at Carl with a confused look. Carl guiltily walked up to Shane and pulled out a small revolver. When did Carl get a gun? I don't remember him ever getting it.

"Carl, what are you doing with that, man?" Shane asked standing up straight. Carl looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact. "Come on, let's go show your parents."

"No, please. I will get in so much trouble." Carl pleaded with him.

"Carl, this is serious. Where did you even get this?" Shane asked. Carl looked at the ground and said nothing. "Come on, then." Shane said gently grabbing his arm and leading him to where his parents were. I slowly followed behind them.

"Erin, why don't you go inside for a bit?" Shane told me once we reached where Rick and Lori were.

I nodded my head and made my way towards the house. I felt a little bad that Carl didn't say anything to me about having a gun. Did he not trust me? I walked inside and sat on the bed Carl and I had been sleeping on. A few minutes later Carl walked in grinning.

"Erin, dad said that I can learn how to use a gun." Carl told me excitedly. "We are about to leave to go do that. Want to come?"

"Sure." I replied smiling. "But Carl?"

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't you tell me you had the gun?" I asked looking down. "Do you not trust me?"

"Of course I trust you!" Carl told me. "I guess I didn't tell you because I knew it was wrong. I just wanted to be able to protect you and the rest of the group."I smiled and looked back at him. Carl smiled back at me. "Come on let's go."

**A/N: HEYYYYY! Sorry everyone! It's been really hard to upload lately because I've been so busy lately! But I am really excited today because SEASON 5 OF THE WALKING DEAD PREMIERED TONIGHT! IT WAS AMAZING! I can't wait to see more! I also have the video up of when I went to Atlanta to see some places where the Walking Dead was filmed! If you want to see, here's the link: ** /7g4cl_EC3Co


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Eight**

I grabbed my gun from my backpack and got into a car with Carl. We were going to drive out to someplace to teach him and a few other people how to shoot guns. Shane drove us to a place a few miles away from the farm. It was in the middle of nowhere; no houses nearby, just many trees and a fence.

"Erin, would you like to help me set up some glass bottles up on that fence over there?" Shane asked me stepping out of the vehicle.

"Sure." I replied stepping out of the vehicle myself. I grabbed some of the bottles that Shane had thrown in the back just before we left and ran over to the fence. I began balancing them on the top of it, making sure they wouldn't fall over. Many people came along to join us in gun training; Rick, Andrea, T-Dog, Lori, Patricia, Carol, Beth, and the teenage boy, Jimmy. I walked back behind the others who were lining up and getting ready to shoot at the bottles.

Shane and T-Dog began instructing some of the others while Rick began instructing Carl. He gave him some rules about safety first and then began getting him ready to shoot for the target. Lori was standing behind them looking uncomfortable and slightly worried.

"Alright, first you need to take the gun off safety." Rick told him pointing to the little switch on the side. "Then you are going to aim for one of the bottles." Carl did as he was told and aimed at one of the bottles. "Take your time, and when you feel like you're lined up; then shoot."

Car took a few seconds to line up his shot and then shot, hitting his target on the first try. "I got it!"

"Nice shot!" I told him. I am impressed that he hit it on his first try. I can already tell he is going to be really good with guns.

"That was a beautiful shot." Rick told him patting him on the back. "Erin, how about you give it a try?"

I nodded and pulled out my gun. I took it off safety and aimed for a blue bottle; then immediately shot, causing the bottle to shatter.

"Nice!" Carl said smiling.

"See Lori, our kids are good shots." Rick said jokingly to her. "You have nothing to worry about." For some reason I felt really happy when he called us their kids. It made me feel like I belonged. I smiled happily and gave him a quick hug.

"Alright, smarty pants." Lori said mockingly, seeming to relax a bit. I laughed at them and watched as Carl aimed for another bottle.

We were out there shooting for around an hour before we all decided that we should head back. We loaded everything up in the vehicles we brought down here and got in. It wasn't long before we got back to the farm. I began helping Shane and Rick unload everything.

Carl was over by Glenn and T-Dog, bragging about how well he did with shooting. I giggled to myself and pulled out an extra crate of bottles that we hadn't used. "Shane, where do you think I should put these extra bottles?"

"I found them by the shed over there." Shane said pointing to a shed across the yard. I nodded and began making my way over there. When I reached the shed I opened the door and set the crate of bottles on the ground. As I made my way back to the others, I looked over to the barn. I have never been over near the barn yet. I wonder what kind of farm animals they keep in there. I began making my way over to the barn to check it out.

When I got within a few feet of the barn I began hearing moaning. I never heard a farm animal make that noise before. I looked around for a peep hole in the barn wall to see if I could see anything inside, but there was none. I walked up to the barn door and noticed that it was chained shut. I gave it a little shake to see how secure it was. Whatever was in there, Hershel did not want it getting out.

Suddenly something banged against the barn door from the inside. I jumped back a bit startled. What could be in there? I walked to the side of the barn and noticed a ladder that led to an opening at the top. I climbed up the ladder and peered over; expecting to find a deranged bull, but it wasn't. It was a barn filled with walkers.

I stood there with horror not knowing what to do. I had left my gun back with the vehicle. I began to back up away from the edge and back towards the opening where I had come in through, but then I heard a noise behind me causing me to lunge to the side thinking that it could be a walker. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my right foot and I cried out and stumbled over the edge to where the walkers were. Luckily I managed to grab the edge before completely falling in. I looked below me and saw that the walkers were reaching for my feet.

I started to try to pull myself up and back over the ledge, but before I could I felt a hand grab my arm and pull me up. It was Glenn. I sat there in his arms a bit shocked; I had just almost been eaten by walkers. I felt like crying, but nothing came out.

"Are you alright? Did you get bit?" Glenn started looking over me and looking for any signs of walker bites.

"Why does Hershel have a barn of walkers?" I asked. I noticed my voice sounded pretty shaky.

"Your foot, it's bleeding!" Glenn said frantically. "The walkers…we have to get you to Rick."

"I don't think it was walkers." I told him shakily. "I just stepped on something."

I reached forward and felt the bottom of my shoe; I felt a piece of metal sticking out of it.

"Oh good, it looks like it is just a nail." Glenn said sighing in relief.

"Why does Hershel have a barn filled with walkers?" I asked again.

Glenn looked at me unsure of what to say. "Well…I don't know, but Maggie asked me not to tell anyone, and I don't know what to do."

"Well you have to tell Rick!" I told him trying to stand up with my good foot.

"No! Maggie will kill me!" Glenn said nervously.

"Glenn, I almost died!" I told him.

"I know, just…keep it to yourself for now. I'll tell them soon…I just got to figure out how to without causing a huge problem." Glenn said with his head down.

"Ugh, fine, but this can't wait too long. They have to know. This puts everyone in danger and they don't even know." I told him.

"I know." Glenn said. "Come on; let's go bring you to Hershel to see what he can do for your foot." I began to try to walk but cried out when I stepped on the foot with the nail in it. "Here get on my back. I will carry you there." Glenn instructed me. I nodded and climbed on his back and he brought be down the ladder and began walking back towards the others.

"Erin, what happened?" Rick asked at we reached the others. Carl's head snapped towards us and he looked at me with concern.

"I stepped on a nail…in the shed." I told them. Glenn looked down guiltily.

"We should probably get Hershel to look at that." Rick said, pulling me off Glenn's back and carrying me bridal style towards the house. Carl followed close behind us. Rick brought me over to the room Carl and I had been sleeping in and set me on the bed.

"Now, I will be right back. I am going to go look for Hershel." Rick said leaving the room.

"Does it hurt?" Carl asked me, looking concerned.

"A bit." I answered honestly. "But I'll be fine."

A few seconds later Hershel walked in followed by Rick. "Now what happened to you, young lady?" he asked me.

"Stepped on a nail." I replied.

"Alright, let's take a look." He knelt down beside the bed and gently picked up my foot. "Yep, you stepped on a nail. It went straight through the shoe and your foot. I am going to have to pull it out with you shoe on." He told me. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pair of pliers. "Now, I am going to need you to sit very still. This will hurt a bit, but I will try to do it as gently as I can." I nodded and dug my fingers into the blankets of the bed, waiting for the pain.

"Wait!" Carl told him. He got on the bed beside me and took a hold of my hand. I looked at him questioningly. "You can use my hand to hold onto." He told me. I smiled gratefully at him and waited for Hershel to begin removing the nail. I squeezed Carl's hand when he pulled it out because it did hurt a bit, but I am happy it was gone.

Hershel took off my shoe and looked at the hole that went all the way through my foot. "Luckily, it looks like it went straight between the bones, so we don't have to worry about any fractures." Hershel told me. "Let's get it washed out so it doesn't get infected." He helped me up and I carefully followed him to the bathroom. He turned the water on from the bathtub and let it fill up three inches before turning it off. He had me sit on the side with my feet in the water and began gently scrubbing my foot.

I felt someone but a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Carl there who still looked a bit concerned. I gave him a reassuring smile and leaned back against him.

Hershel pulled my foot out of the water and then grabbed some bandages from a cabinet in the bathroom. He dried my foot and began rapping it. "Alright, I think I am done." Hershel told me smiling. "But you should probably take it easy for the rest of the day to let that heal up a bit." I nodded feeling a bit down that I wouldn't be able to do much for the rest of the day. "You know, I do have a TV with a DVD player in the room you all have been sleeping in."

"I never saw a TV." Carl told him confused.

"That's because we are not a family that watches TV or movies a lot. We keep it in the closet, but I can take it out for you tonight."

I felt excitement wash over me; watching movies was one of the things I missed most ever since the apocalypse. Carl looked over at me smiling, remembering that I liked movies.

We followed Hershel back into the bedroom and watched as he pulled the TV and DVD player out. He then pulled a box of DVDs out and set them on the bed. "You can look through the DVDs and see if you find any you like while I set up the TV." Hershel told us. I jumped on the bed and began looking through the DVDs. They didn't have too many, but they did have some good ones. It didn't take Hershel long to finish setting up the TV and DVD player and when he was done he left the room.

_(Carl's Pov.)_

I watched as Erin looked through all the DVDs. She seems so happy right now. It seems like she forgot about all the bad things that were happening and for this one moment she was just happy, but that moment didn't last long. Her facial expression changed when she came across a certain DVD; "Step Up ". She looked sad.

"Erin, what's wrong?" I asked her feeling concerned.

"Oh, nothing." She said looking up at me giving me a quick smile. She put the DVD back in the box and continued to look at the other ones.

"I know it's not "nothing"." I told Erin taking a hold of her wrist to stop her from going through the DVDs and get her to look at me. "You can trust me, Erin."

She looked up at me before answering. "That movie, "Step Up"…the last time I saw it, was the last time I saw my uncle alive." She looked away from me and faced the ground.

"Oh." I said quietly. I leaned over and gave her a hug. "I am sorry about what happened to your uncle."

"It's alright." She told me hugging me back. "It is probably better this way."

"Anyway, did you find any good movies?" I asked changing the subject.

"They actually have a lot of good ones." She told me giggling. "What do you think of this movie?" she held up the first "Lord of the Rings" movie.

"I've never seen it." I told her honestly.

"Really?" Erin asked me, sounding shocked. I nodded my head and gave a crooked smile. "Wow. Alright we are watching this movie tonight then. You'll love it." She said excitedly. She jumped up from the bed and put the DVD in. She pressed play then ran back to sit next to me on the bed. "Are you ready to see the most epic fantasy film ever invented?" Erin asked me dramatically with a British accent.

"Why yes I am, my lady." I replied with my best British accent. "Shall we?"

"We shall!" Erin replied dramatically.

"By the way, Erin…." I could feel my face growing warmer already at what I was about to do.

"Yeah?" she asked glancing over at me.

I quickly leaned into to her and kissed her on the cheek. "That's payback."

**A/N: Hey everyone! Thank you so much for you kind reviews and also for favoriting and following my story! :D It means soooo much! Next chapter will be coming soon! **


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Nine**

_(Erin's Pov.)_

I woke to someone shifting beside me. I open my eyes and see that I had practically fallen to sleep on top of Carl. I had my head on his chest and he had an arm around me. We must have fallen asleep during the movie. I blushed and carefully tried to pull away without waking Carl up, but that didn't help; he just turned towards me and wrapped his other arm around me, pulling me even closer. Surprisingly, he still seemed to be sleeping.

"Carl?" I whisper. He stays quiet so I give him a small shake causing him to groan. "Carl, wake up."

Carl moans and then slowly opens his eyes. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" he asks me.

"Yes, very well…can I get up now?" I ask him.

Carl seems to finally take notice that he is holding onto me and quickly let's go, blushing. "Sorry." He says quickly. I giggle at him and get out of bed. I notice that my foot is sore from the nail so I began favoring my left foot. I walk out into the living room to see Glenn sitting on the couch looking guilty and nervous.

I walk over and sit down next to him. He doesn't seem to take much notice of me. "Did you tell Rick yet?" I ask him quietly.

Glenn shifts uncomfortably. "No, not yet." He answers honestly.

"You need to tell someone, Glenn." I told him. "It's not good to keep stuff like that from them."

"I told Dale." He told me.

"Well that's a start." I replied.

"I am going to tell everyone else at breakfast." He said.

I nod at him. "Good."

"Breakfast is ready." Carol said walking inside the house. "Lori and I made eggs, so if you're hungry, you can come outside."

"I'm hungry." Carl says walking out of the bedroom. "Come on, my lady. Let's go get some food." Carl said in his best foreign accent offering his hand to me.

I giggle and take his hand. "Yes, good sir. Let's get go get some food." I said mimicking his accent and intertwining our arms together. Carol laughs at us and begins leading us out to where the breakfast is. I'm glad we made her laugh. It makes me happy seeing her smile again. She seems a bit more hopeful today.

Almost everyone is already there eating away at their eggs. Carol hands both Carl and I a plate and then puts a good portion of eggs on our plates. Carl then walks over to his parents and sits down. I walk over too, and sit down.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?" Lori asks me smiling slightly.

I nod. "Yes, ma'am." I slowly began to eat my eggs. Everyone seems to be oddly quiet this morning.

Glenn walks up and takes a seat on an old bucket. I could tell he was getting ready to tell everyone that there are walkers in the barn. He looks around nervously as if he is planning on the right words to say. He then stands up and walks closer to us. "Um, guys?" Everyone looks up at him. He takes a moment to look around at everyone. "The barn is full of walkers…" He finally says. Everyone looks at him with a surprised reaction.

"How long have you known about this?" Lori asks him.

"A few days." Glenn said facing his head towards the ground ashamed. "I didn't tell anyone right away because Maggie told me not to, but then Erin stumbled upon it and almost ended up being eaten."

Carl suddenly looks towards me with concern. I shift uncomfortably where I am sitting, noticing that everyone else's eyes are on me as well. "I didn't step on a nail in the shed; it was in the barn. It caused me to fall over the edge to where all the walkers were, but thankfully I was able to grab the edge before falling completely in and then Glenn found me and pulled me out." I told them.

"I asked her to keep it a secret then, because I wanted to figure out the right way to tell you guys." Glenn told them.

"The right way to tell us?" Shane asked in disbelief.

"Erin was almost killed!" Carl said sounding a little angry.

"Believe me, I really wanted to tell you guys, but Maggie kept pressuring me to keep quiet." Glenn said in defense.

"Baby, when something like this comes up that puts our lives at risk, you need to tell us." Lori told him.

"Yeah, I know that now. That's why I told you." Glenn told them.

"Well, better late than never." Rick said setting his plate on the ground and standing up. "Come on, let's go check it out."

We got up and followed Glenn over to the barn. Shane walked up to the barn door and peered through a crack. After he sees that there really are walkers in the barn he walks back towards Rick.

"You can't tell me you're alright with this." Shane told him.

"I'm not, but we are guests here. This is not our land." Rick told him.

"This is our lives, man!" Shane yelled at him.

"Lower your voice." Glenn whispered.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug." Andrea told us.

"It ain't right." T-Dog said.

"We got to go in there and make things right or we are going to have to go. We have been talking about Fort Benning for a long time_" Shane began saying.

"We can't go." Rick interrupted.

"Why, Rick? Why?" Shane asked him.

"Because my daughter is still out there." Carol said.

Shane looks like he is beginning to get a bit frustrated. "I think it may be time to except the other possibilities."

I listened as they all began to break out in arguments about Sophia and the barn and a bunch of other things. I begin to back away and head back towards the house. When I got there I stayed outside and sat on the patio stairs.

"Hello." I jump up startled, only to see that it was Beth. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." She told me.

"It's alright." I told her smiling and sitting back down. She sat down beside me and I noticed that she was carrying a basket.

"Someone told me you were crazy about fruit." She told me. "So I figured you might like one of these." She pulled a peach out of her basket and handed it to me.

My eyes went wide and I greedily accepted the fruit. "Thank you so, much!" I told her. "I haven't had fruit since the CDC."

Beth giggled. "We have many fruit trees growing around the farm, so you are welcome to get some when you want. I can show you where some are."

"That would be awesome!" I said excitedly, taking a big bite of the peach she gave me.

"Awesome, well I will see you later, because I have to bring these to Daddy." She told me standing up. "Enjoy the fruit."

"Oh, I will." I told her. She then smiled at me and walked inside with the basket.

I continued to eat the peach when I saw Lori and Carl walk up to me.

"Mom says we should do some school work." Carl said sounding a bit bummed to have to do school.

I nod and follow them over to a pick nick table and sit down. Lori walks over to her tent and pulls out some books and notebook paper. She has us begin silently reading one of the books and taking notes.

"Do you think Sophia is dead?" Carl asks his mom.

"Shane's just scared." Lori told him remembering what he said about Sophia in front of him.

"Of the walkers in the barn?" Carl asks her.

"Yeah." She replies.

"Mom…I'm not leaving until we find Sophia." Carl told her. I glance towards him. "And I don't even want to go…after that."

"Me either." I told them.

"Well, we are not leaving." Lori assures us.

Carl nods. "I was thinking….that she…..she's going to like it here." he told her. "This place…can be a home."

Lori reached over and hugs her son. I glance back down at the book and continue to read. It wasn't long before I finished the chapter. "I finished the chapter." I say out loud.

"Good. Let me see your notes." She instructs me. I hand her my notes and she begins skimming through them.

"I'm done too." Carl said a few minutes later.

"Good. Now that's it for today. You can go play now." Lori told us taking Carl's notes. "But stick together and stay away from the barn, okay?"

"Okay." Carl and I say in unison. Then Carl stands up quickly and taps me on the shoulder. "Tag, you're it!" He says taking off running. I jump up and begin chasing after him.

I caught up to him near the beginning of the woods. "Tag!" I tell him, running ahead of him into the forest. When I got a ways away from him I dart behind a bush near a pound and hide, waiting for Carl to appear. It wasn't long before I was able to see Carl, through the bushes. He stops at the edge of the pound and begins to look around.

"Erin! Where are you?" He calls out to me. "I'm going to get you!" I say nothing and it is silent for several minutes. Carl seems to be getting nervous now. "Erin, seriously, where are you? It's not funny anymore." I stay quiet and duck farther behind the bush silently waiting for the right moment to pounce. "Erin…"

"Boo!" I jump out from behind the bush and tackle him.

"Aghhhh!" Carl screams and I begin laughing loudly from the ground. "Erin, don't do that! I thought you were a walker!"

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself." I say as I continue to laugh.

"I also thought that walkers could have gotten you, because you didn't reply right away!" Carl said sounding aggravated.

"Alright. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." I apologies and offer my hand to him to help him up. He takes my hand and stands up, but he does not let go. I look at him questioningly.

You know, it wasn't actually too bad of a prank." He says mysteriously. "But would you like to see an even better one?"

"Um, sure." I reply. Before I know it Carl has his arms wrapped around my waist and he tumbles into the cold pond taking me with him.

"Carl!" I say when we emerged.

Carl was laughing loudly just like I was the minute before. I take my hand and splash water at his face which he returns instantly. Soon we were in a huge splashing war, in which I was losing. Carl rushes over to me and tackles me into the water again.

"Okay! Okay! I surrender!" I say laughing when we came up.

Carl still holds onto me. "Are you sure?" He asks me quietly squeezing me a little tighter, but not to point where it is hurting me.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure!" I say giggling.

Carl then let go of me and threw his arms up in the air jumping. "Yeah, I'm king of the pond!" he shouts.

"Not!" I say tackling him into the water.

We come up giggling more, but the laughter dies down when we realize we are still holding onto each other and that are faces are inches apart. Our faces turn bright red but we both don't pull away.

"Erin?" Carl whispers to me.

"Yeah?" I whisper back.

"There's something that I need to tell you." He tells me.

"What's that?" I ask.

"You know when we were talking about liking someone when we were playing truth or dare?" he asks me nervously.

"Yeah." I say feeling my heart beat faster.

"The person that I said I like is you." He tells me looking away from my eyes. "Erin, I really like you."

"Really?" I ask him, feeling like I was dreaming. Carl nods his head. "I really like you too, Carl." I tell him.

Carl suddenly got the biggest grin on his face that I've ever seen. "Really?" he asks me. I nod, smiling back at him. Carl pulls me into a hug and I hug him back. "I think I am the happiest person on Earth right now." He whispers into my ear.

"Me too." I whisper back.

Suddenly Carl pulls away. "Want to play truth or dare?" He asks me quickly.

"Sure." I say a little confused on why he would suddenly want to play that.

"Truth or dare?" He asks me.

"Truth." I say quietly.

Carl hesitates for a few seconds before asking, "Would you be okay if I kissed you right now?"

I giggle a little before nodding my head. "It would actually make me really happy."

Carl smiles again quickly before awkwardly putting a hand on my cheek. I can feel he is trembling as he leans in closer. He puts his other hand behind my neck. He is so close, I can feel his shaky breaths on my mouth. He hesitates a few seconds before he gently presses his lips against mine. I can feel my heart racing. Everything around me seems to fade away as Carl keeps his lips pressed to mine. They are soft and surprisingly warm, even after being in the cold water.

A few seconds later Carl pulls away. "Wow." He whispers, smiling.

"Yeah." I whisper back, noticing that I was smiling as well.

Carl pulls me into a hug again. "We should head back. My mom is probably starting to get worried about us." He says after a few minutes pulling away.

"Yeah." I reply.

Carl climbs out of the pound and reaches his hand out to me. "My lady." He says in his foreign accent.

"Why thank you!" I say in my own foreign accent taking his hand. He helps me out of the pond and we begin to walk back, with his hand still holding onto mine.

"Carl! Erin! Where have you been?" Lori runs over to us as we approach the house. "Why are you two all wet?" She then notices that we are holding hands and a small smile begins to form on her face.

Carl and I quickly let go of each other's hand and look down towards the ground. "We were just out walking…."

"And Carl fell into a pond….." I started out saying. "Thankfully enough though I was there to save Carl and pull him from the strong waves." I say triumphantly.

"Strong waves, huh?" Lori asks smirking.

"Yeah, well actually it was me who saved Erin from the…..strong waves." Carl says looking over to me amusingly at my chose of words.

"Believe whatever you like, my fellow friend, but we will all know in our hearts that it was really me who saved you." I tell him, patting him on the shoulder.

"Alright, as long as you two are both safe." Lori says laughing. "Come on; let's get you two cleaned up."

She leads us inside and has both of us take a shower and put clean clothes on. When I'm done I walk out to the living room to see Carl sitting on the couch, wearing his dad's sheriff hat, smiling up at me. "What took you so long?" he asks me.

"What? Can't a girl her time getting ready?" I reply jokingly. "Besides I didn't even take that long. It was only like twenty-five minutes."

"True." Carl replies. "Want to see what everyone is doing outside?"

"Sure." I reply and Carl gets up and takes my hand in his once again. I smile and we walk outside together. We see Patricia and Beth sitting out on the porch, talking. When they see us they smile and wave us over.

"Well it looks like you two are all tidied up now." Patricia tells us.

"Yeah, thankfully." I say laughing. "It felt really weird being in muddy wet clothes."

"Yeah." Carl agrees. We sit down on a bench that is next to them.

"How's you gunshot wound?" Beth asks Carl.

"It's doing a lot better. It doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it did, thanks to your dad." Carl says smiling.

"That's good. Soon_" Beth stops in the middle of her sentence and her eye dart to something else. We turn to see what she was looking at to see Shane coming back carrying a bag of guns, looking like he's about to start something.

"Time to grow up!" He tells everyone, passing out guns. I stand up and walk over to the steps. Carl follows close behind me. "This place is supposed to be safe, but now we know it ain't. Can you shoot?" He asks Maggie.

"Can you stop?" Maggie asks him aggregately. "If you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane." Carl spoke up stepping in front of me.

"What's going on?" Lori asks walking outside.

"We are staying." Shane says. "Now Hershel, he is just going to have to understand and we need to find Sophia, am I right?" I begin getting a sick feeling in my stomach as if something bad was about to happen. I nervously shift where I'm standing and move closer to Carl. Then Shane walks up to Carl and holds out a gun to him. "Now I want you to take this. You take this Carl, and keep your mom safe; to keep Erin safe; you do whatever it takes to keep them safe."

Before Carl could take the gun, Lori steps in front of him, pushing the gun back. "What are you doing? Hershel said no guns. This isn't your decision to make." She says angrily.

I back away from them a bit and then notice Rick and Hershel holding onto two walkers with some sort of leash thing. "Oh, snap." I say to myself causing everyone to look to the direction I was looking at. Before I know it, everyone is sprinting towards them, except for me. I slowly follow behind, knowing that what's about to happen, isn't going to be good. I could hear a lot of yelling going on, but I couldn't quite make out what anyone was saying because I was still too far back. Then there are gunshots. When I got closer I see Shane run up to the barn door and begin to bang on it. I then realize what he is planning on doing. He is going to free the walkers. I stay back and continue to watch, not wanting to be involved in everything going on. It wasn't long before Shane was able to break the lock. Walkers begin to pour out of the barn. Everyone who had a gun began shooting at the walkers. I stood a few feet behind Carl and Lori and watched as the horror began.

I look away from the chaos for a second and see Hershel on his knees crying, along with Maggie trying to comfort him. I also notice that Beth and Patricia are crying as well. I didn't know what to think of it all. The gunshots didn't last much longer and it had seemed like all of the walkers were now dead...but I was wrong. There was one more walker and when I saw it, I felt my heart stop…Sophia.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Ten**

Sophia...she's gone…she's not coming back. I fall to my knees as tears begin to stream down my face. Lori hugs Carl close to her as he begins to cry too.

"Sophia…" Carol begins to run towards the thing that used to be Sophia, but she doesn't get far before Daryl holds her back. No one says a word; everything is so silent compared a few seconds ago. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of silent crying. I watch as the creature approaches slowly.

Rick takes out his pistol and slowly walks up to Sophia's figure. He aims his gun and then fires. Sophia's body falls lifeless to the ground.

_(Carl's Pov.)_

People began to slowly walk away back towards the house. No one really seemed to know what to do, or what was going to happen next. I felt sick to my stomach. Sophia is dead. One of my best friends; someone that I have gotten to know over the last several weeks; someone who just with us…alive and perfectly fine is now dead. I look behind me and my mom and see Erin sitting there with tears running down her face. I pull away from my mom and crawl over to her and pull her into my arms to try to comfort her a little, even though I knew it probably wouldn't help too much considering that I was crying too.

We stayed like that for what seemed like an hour, not saying anything to each other. We just stayed silent and sat there, staring at the bodies.

Mom walks up behind me and puts her hands on my shoulder. "Come on; let's head back to the house now." She told me quietly. I nod my hand and stand up. I hold out my hand for Erin, but she doesn't move. She just continues to stare at Sophia's lifeless body. "Maybe we should give her some time alone." Mom suggests and she begins to lead me back towards the house.

"I always thought that we would find her." I begin to tell my mom.

"We all did." Mom replys.

"No, I mean that Erin and I would find her and that she would be safe." I continue. "But Dad did the right thing; shooting her in the head…I would have done it too."

She doesn't reply and stays quiet for several seconds. "Dale?" she says finally.

"Do you mind taking Carl into the house?" she asks him then she turns towards me. "I want you to rest."

"Okay." I reply nodding and standing up.

I then begin to walk back to the house with Dale. My dad met us halfway and put our sheriff hat on my head. "You dropped this." He told me as he continued walking towards mom. I don't even remember it falling off. I continue to walk back with Dale until we reached the house. I then went on my own to the room that Erin and I shared and I lay down on the bed and fell asleep, trying hard to forget about Sophia.

I wake up a few hours later. I get up and begin to look around for Erin. I walk out of the room and saw Glenn sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. "Where's Erin?" I ask him. He looks up at me but says nothing. He then directs his head towards the door. I turn and walk out the door spotting Erin right away. She is still sitting in the same spot as when I left her. I walk over to her. All the bodies were already taken away to be either burned or buried. I look at Erin's face. She had stopped crying but her face was still stained with tears.

"Erin." I call out quietly, but her eyes never leave the spot of where Sophia laid. "Erin, please say something." My voice cracks as if I'm about to cry again. "Please, talk to me. Don't shut me out." She still stays quiet. I sit down behind her and wrap my arms around her stomach. I lean my head against her back and whisper, "I need you to talk to me, Erin."

This time she looks at me. She waits a second before wrapping her arms around my neck, but she stays silent. After about a minute she pulls away and faces back in the direction she was before.

My mom walks up behind me. "Carl, we are going to have a ceremony now for Sophia and Hershel's family." She holds out her hand to me.

"What about, Erin. She's not saying anything and I don't think she is going to leave." I say.

"Honey, I think Erin, just needs some time alone. Don't worry. She will be fine." She replies. I then nod and grab her hand and she leads me to where the Ceremony was to be held at. Some people say a few words about Sophia and Hershel's family, and others stay silent. It seemed like it was just nearing the end when I turned and saw Erin walking up behind us. She passes us and kneels down next to the grave that Sophia is buried in.

"Hey Sophia, I know you probably can't hear me right now, but if you can, you deserve to know that you were a great friend, even one of the best I've ever have." She says. "I am really going to miss you, but I'm sure you are going to enjoy being in heaven now. I'm sure it won't be too long before all of us join you there too." That last part she said sent chills through my body. "But until then. Goodbye Sophia." Erin finishes talking and stands up turning to all of us. He nods her head to us and begins walking towards the house. Who knew the best day of my life can also turn out to be one of the worst.

_(Erin's Pov.)_

I walk into the room that Carl I have been sleeping in and lay down on the bed. I begin to hear some other people starting to come inside from the ceremony. I hear someone walk into the room and kneel down at the side of the bed.

"How are you doing?" I turn and see Carl looking over me, still wearing his dad's hat.

"Better." I tell him. "You know maybe it's for the best that Sophia is gone. She doesn't have to live in the nightmares of what this world has become anymore. She doesn't have to be afraid anymore. She's safe."

"Yeah." Carl says seeming a bit unsure. "I'm glad you are talking again, because you went silent for a long time."

"I guess I just couldn't find any words to say at the time." I tell him. Suddenly I hear a crash coming from the kitchen. I jump up from the bed and run into the kitchen to see Beth lying on the ground with Maggie over her. A few seconds later Lori rushes in too.

"What's wrong with her?" Maggie asks startled and worried with Glenn by her side. "Where's Dad?"

"I will go find him." Glenn said taking off.

"What's wrong with her?" She repeats.

"I don't know, but let's bring her to a bed." Lori tells her. She helps pick up Beth and brings her over to the bed that Carl and I shared.

"What's wrong with her?" Maggie repeats again once she lay Beth onto the bed.

"She might be in shock. Where's Hershel?" Lori asks.

"I couldn't find him anywhere." Glenn tells us walking into the room.

"I'll try to look some more." Lori says walking out of the room.

"Erin, Carl, can you look after her for a few minutes?" Maggie asks us. We both nod quickly. "Yell to us if anything happens." She instructed before taking off to look for Hershel as well with Glenn following her.

I walk over to the bed and sit down next to Beth. I reach out my hand and feel her skin. "She's burning up." I say.

"They will find Hershel soon." Carl tells me.

A few minutes later Rick walks into the room. "Carl, Erin, I'm going to go out with Glenn to look for Hershel. He's not on the farm. I will be back soon." He tells us. He then smiles and jokingly tips Carl's hat up almost knocking it off his head. Carl laughs and pulls it back over his head and watches as his dad leaves the room.

"What was your dad like?" Carl asks me after a few minutes of silence.

"He was fun to be around and never seemed to stop smiling." I tell him. "When he could he would always play with me."

"What kind of games would you play?"

"Usually, I chose a game where I was the soldier and he was a civilian that I had to try in rescue." I say as I smile, remembering.

Carl laughs a little. "Wasn't he a soldier?"

"Yeah he was, so he was gone a lot, but I really did enjoy the time he did get to spend with me and my mom." I tell him.

"What about your mom, what was she like?" he asks me.

"She was very sweet and always seemed to be smiling like my dad and unlike my dad, she could actually cook." I giggle.

Carl giggles too. "What did she do?"

"Oh, she was a nurse, up until they head me." I tell him. "She was Brazilian."

"That could explain your tan skin and your dark hair." Carl says running a finger gently across my arm. "Do you miss them?"

"I do from time to time, but then I remind myself that I will see them again and that they are happy now and don't have to suffer." I say.

Carl nods. "I'm not sure if I believe in heaven, let alone a god." He tells me. "I mean if there is a god then why would he let all these bad things happen?"

"Things always happen for a reason." I tell him. "Some of what happens may not seem fair to us, but in the end it all turns out for the better."

"I guess so." Carl says thinking over it. "Then maybe you can help me believe…"

I smile up at him and nod. "I can do that."

About an hour later Beth still hadn't made any movements and had just stood still the whole time. Lori would walk in from time to time to check and she if she had made any progress, but of course there was none. Carl and I just talked and waited for Rick who still hadn't returned.

"I'm going to go look for your dad." Lori says walking inside. "Please stay inside the house until I get back, or at least always stay within someone's sight."

Carl nods and she leans forward and kisses him on the forehead and then walks out of the room.

"You guys can go now." Maggie tells us. "I got this now."

Carl and I exit the room and walk outside and sit on the porch. "You kissed me." I bring up smirking a little.

Carl's face turns red. "I did, and you kissed back."

"I did." I say laughing a little.

"Did you…like it?" Carl asks me.

"Yeah, I did." I say smiling. "You're not so bad of a kisser." I say jokingly.

"I liked kissing you too." Carl says smiling. He then slowly reaches over and takes my hand in his.

I notice the sun beginning to set. "You know today was a really good day, but at the same time it was a bad one."

"Yeah, I know." Carl agrees. "Do you think this will ever be over? Do you think the world will return to the way it was one day?"

"I don't know." I reply honestly. "But I really hope it does."

Just then Patricia steps outside. "Come on, I made some food for everyone." She tells us. We follow her inside and sit around the table.

"Where's Lori?" Carol asks as she sits down at the table. I look around and see that no one else seems to really know.

"Carl when was the last time you saw your mom?" Shane asks him.

"This afternoon." He answers. "She said she was going to look for Dad."

I suddenly go an uneasy feeling in my stomach and stood up from the table. "I need some air." I say as I walk outside to the porch. I can tell something isn't right.


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Eleven**

It was night now and everyone was beginning to worry for Rick, Hershel, Glenn, and Lori because none of them were back yet. It's been hours since they left and I still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling inside me. Suddenly I see Shane get in a car and take off in a hurry.

I get up and walk towards the others. "Where's Shane going?" I ask.

"I think he's going after Lori." Andrea says quietly.

I can tell that Carl is really worried for his parents. I walk over to him and put a comforting arm on his shoulder. "Don't worry. They will be fine." I tell him.

"How do you know?" Carl asks me sharply.

"Because your dad is Rick Grimes. He can survive pretty much anything." I tell him smiling. "You wouldn't believe what I've seen him survive already." I tell him remembering the tank incident. "There's no way he won't make it back alive now." I encourage him, even though in my own heart, I wasn't so sure.

A few hours later, I hear a car pull up. I run over to get a better look. Shane had brought Lori back but she looked pretty cut up.

"Where's Rick?" She asks. No one says anything. "He's not back yet?" She asks baffled.

"It was the only way I could get you to come back." Shane told her.

"You lied to me!" She says angrily. "He's my husband! I need to go after him."

"No, I will go after him." Shane tells her. "I just had to make sure you were safe; that the baby was safe."

"Baby?" I question out loud.

"You're having a baby?" Carl asks her with his eyes wide. Lori stays quiet, not knowing what to say to anyone, who also seemed to be as equally surprised. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asks.

"I…I…" Lori tries to come up with words, but none come.

"Well, let's make sure you're alright." Dale tells her. Everyone agrees and lead Lori inside with me and Carl following behind.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Carl asks aloud. "I'm her son."

"I don't know." I reply honestly. "Maybe she just wasn't ready to tell anyone yet."

"Do you think Dad knows?" Carl asks me.

"Well he's her husband, so I'm sure he does, but there's a possibility that he might not." I reply. We walk inside and sit next to where they had sat Lori down. They had gotten her a glass of water and some rags to clean of the dry blood.

"Hey." She whispers to Carl. "I am so sorry, that I left."

"It's okay, I wasn't scared." He tells her. "I had Erin there with me." Lori smiles at me and nods her head. "When is Dad getting back?" Carl asks.

"Let's hope soon." Lori tells him.

"I want to be there to tell him about the baby." He tells her.

"Oh, he already knows." Lori tells her. "We were just trying to find the right time to tell you."

Carl nods. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

"Well, we won't know that till it's born." Lori says smiling.

"Will I be able to feel it?" Carl asks reaching out his hand and putting it on his mom's stomach. I smile at the gesture.

"Not for awhile." Lori says. "You must have a lot of questions, huh? We never had 'The Talk"." Lori said smirking and looking at the others.

"I'm out of here!" I say running from the room. I walk into the room that Beth was now occupying and grabbed my bag. Carl and I obviously couldn't sleep there anymore so I decided to look for a new place to sleep. I had outside and began looking around to see if anyone had any extra space in their tents. I knew of course that Rick and Lori would want Carl to sleep with them, but it would be too crowded with me.

I ended up around Daryl's tent. He was sitting outside cooking something that looked like a squirrel. "Hey, do you have any extra space in your tent?" I call out to him.

He looks up at me. "What?"

"You see, I need somewhere to sleep because Beth is in the bed that I was sleeping in now."

"Are you kidding me?" He asks with a baffled look on his face.

"No…" I reply.

His baffled look was soon replaced with an aggravated one. "I ain't no baby sitter." He yells at me.

"Good 'cause I don't need one." I said setting my things down. "Besides, it's not like you have to talk to me or anything."

"Did Carol put you up to this, or something?" He asks me.

"….No…" I reply. "Just need a place to sleep for a day or two."

"Fine, but don't you be touching anything."

"Deal." I say. I walk back towards the house to get some blankets. When I get there I spot Carl, sitting on the bench on the porch.

"There you are." He says standing up. "Mom told me that I am going to sleep with her and Dad now in the tent. I'm sure you can fit in there with us if_"

"Nah, it's alright. It would be a little crowded and plus you probably need the extra space for the new baby." I say winking my eyes at him.

Carl smiles a little but I can tell he's a little sad with my answer. "Where will you be sleeping then?"

"With Daryl." I reply.

"Daryl?" he looks up at me surprised.

"Yeah, he was _kind_ enough to _willingly _agree to let me sleep in his tent." I say putting emphasis on the words 'kind' and 'willingly'. Carl laughs a little. "Besides it will probably one be for a few days till I find a better place to sleep." I tell him.

"Maybe we could find an extra tent that you and I could share…be like having our own little campout." Carl suggests, smiling a little.

"Maybe we can." I say smiling back. "Well I should probably go to sleep now. Today was huge."

"Yeah." Carl says yawning a bit.

"Sweet dreams, Carl." I say before pecking him on the cheek and running back to Daryl's tent, leaving him standing there, blushing. When I got back I realized that I had forgotten the blankets.

"Darn it!" I say under my breath.

I turn to head back but Daryl stops me. "Here." He says tossing me some blankets of his own.

"Thanks." I reply and I grab my bag and walk inside the tent and make a place on the side for me to sleep. Soon after that, I fell asleep.

I wake up the next morning and see that Daryl isn't inside the tent. He must have woken up a long time ago. I quickly change my clothes and head outside. Andrea, Shane, T-Dog, and Daryl were all looking like they were about to head out.

"Where are you guys going?" I ask them.

"We're heading out to find Rick." Andrea tells me.

"Can I come?" I ask.

"No." Shane said quickly.

"But I can help." I say. "And you know I can." I remind him.

Shane thinks about it for a bit before deciding. "Fine. You can come."

Just then we hear something in the distance and turn to see Rick driving Hershel's truck. We run over to them. Lori runs out with Carl by her side along with everyone else. As soon as Carl spots Rick he runs into his arms smiling, but then I spot something else. There was an extra passenger. It looks like a teenage boy, maybe around seventeen or eighteen years of age.

"Patricia, prepare my shed for surgery." Hershel instructs Patricia as he walks towards the house.

"Who the heck is that?" T-Dog asks pointing to the boy.

"That's Randall." Glenn tells us.

I move closer to the car and notice that he is blind folded.

"Carl, Erin, how about you two play in the R.V. for a bit?" Lori suggested. "While we deal with this."

"Okay." Carl replies and I follow him into the R.V. I watch out the window as a couple of people help Hershel bring Randall inside.

"He looks young." I say out loud. "Like seventeen or eighteen."

Carl walks up next to me and also looks out the window. "Yeah." He agrees. "How was sleeping with Daryl?" He suddenly brings up.

"Wasn't bad. Didn't really see him much." I tell him. I see a hint of jealousy in Carl's eyes. "Why?"

"No reason." Carl said a little sharply.

"You do realize he is more than twenty years older than me?" I say with a smirk on my face. "Don't worry. I still like you." I tell him leaning forward and pecking him on the nose playfully.

Carl blushes and seems to get more cheery suddenly. "Want to play a game?"

"Sure. What game?" I reply.

"Ever heard of the game 'What If'?" He asks me.

"No how do you play?" I ask.

"Well, we take turns asking questions starting with 'what if' and then the other person has to answer."

"Okay I think I get it. You start." I tell him.

"What if one day you woke up and you were a cyborg?" he asks me.

"I would protect the farm and shoot lasers at walkers." I replied proudly.

Carl laughs. "Okay your turn."

"Hmm, okay. What if your favorite singer showed up at the farm?" I ask.

"I would keep them as a slave and make them sing for me as the cost for letting them live." Carl told me.

I burst out laughing. "Seriously?"

"Who wouldn't?" Carl asked beginning to laugh as well.

"Most people." I reply.

Carl shrugs his shoulders. "What if we got separated?" He asked me sounding more serious.

"Then I will never stop searching for you until I find you." I reply. "Best friends stick together."

Carl smiles and pulls me into a hug.

"Staying warm?" Dale asks smirking at the door. Carl and I quickly pull apart.

"We were just…" Carl starts out. "Never mind."

Dale laughs and we sneak past him and out of the R.V. We ran to a shady place under a tree and sat down.

"It feels a bit warm to be November." I say, propping myself up against the tree.

"Yeah, it will probably get colder soon." Carl replies. "Hey remember when we were talking about Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah, what about it?" I ask.

"Do you think we will still be able to do that this year?" he asks me.

"I don't know anymore. Seems unlikely with everything going on, but I hope it does." I say.

"I think it would be a good idea. It would take everyone's mind off of things for awhile." Carl tells me.

I nod in agreement. "I don't like seeing everyone sad. It would be nice to swing the mood around for a bit, even if it is the end of the world."

"Hey, as long as we're still breathing, it's not the end of the world." Carl says winking at me.

I giggle. "True. It's not the end of the world just yet."

Life…at this moment…seemed to be alright. I wanted to think that it could last forever, just like this, but deep down, whether I wanted to admit it or not, I knew this could never last. In the world we live in now, a life can change in an instant, and I soon was going to experience that for myself.

**A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been awhile. I just moved states and also planning to go to college soon so things have been pretty hectic, but I've got good news. I'm nearly done with this story and will soon be starting on the third! I will also be uploading two other chapters tonight because of my absence! I hope you enjoy!**

**P.S. I apologize for any errors. I hardly spent time editing because I wanted to hurry up and finish the rest of this story so I can start the third. **


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Twelve**

The next few days went by quickly…almost too quickly. Hershel fixed up the kid, Randall's leg. Rick came up with the idea of dropping him off somewhere far off for the safety of our group. He and Shane went and drove Randall out only to return a few hours later with the kid still in their custody. Something must've changed their mind, because now they want to kill him.

Something must've happened with Carl also. He's been acting different; more rebellious and immature. Earlier this morning he was caught in the barn Randall's being kept in.

_**Flashback **_

_ "Carl, quit trying to get yourself killed, man." I hear Shane yell. I glance up from underneath a tree I was sitting under and glance over to Carl who was now heading towards the house. I stand up and run over to meet him._

_ "What was that about?" I asked him. Carl avoids looking at me and continues walking without a word. I reach out a grab his arm. "Carl?_

_ "It's nothing, Erin!" He snaps. I jump at his outburst. Carl's face softens. "Sorry, just….I was in the barn with Randall. I wanted to get a better look at him."_

_ "You what?" I say. "Carl, he's dangerous! Why do you think their keeping him locked up in the barn? Why do you think they want to kill him instead of letting him go?" _

_ "I don't need to hear this from you as well." Carl scowls. _

_ "Carl, I'm worried." I tell him. "I don't want to lose another person I care about." _

_ Carl looks at me and then pulls me into a hug. "You won't." _

_ "Then stop this." I tell him, pulling away to look him in the eye. "Stop doing stupid things!" _

_ "It's not stupid!" he tells me. _

_ "Just what do you think you're doing then?" I ask him. _

_ Carl looks at me for a few moments before turning away. "I want to be alone." _

_ He then walks away. _

_**End Flashback**_

__I haven't seen him since. I'm trying not to worry. He's probably just off trying to clear his head.

Dale's been going around, trying to get people to vote against killing Randall, with him just being a kid and all. It doesn't seem like he's had much luck with it though. Personally, I don't know what they should do with him. I've overheard creepy things about the group he's from and want nothing to do with the kid, but is killing him really right?

All of the adults are in the living room now deciding Randall's fate. I am sitting with Jimmy out in the back. A few minutes later, Carl walks in. I notice his clothes are covered in mud.

"Where've you been? What happened?" I ask. "Your clothes are covered in mud."

"I was just out in the woods and fell. Nothing else." He replies. He seems to be hiding something, but I know he'll just get angry if I prod him more about it.

"If you say so."

We all sit in silent for several minutes. I can hear the faint sound of voices coming from the adults, discussing whether or not to kill Randall.

"I think they should kill him." Carl says suddenly. Jimmy and I look towards him.

"What?" I say.

"He's dangerous. He should be killed." Carl says.

"It isn't up to you." I tell him, suddenly feeling anger towards him. "Besides he's a kid; probably no older than Jimmy."

"What difference does it make?" Carl snaps. "He could decide to kill any of us if we decide to let him live. It's all a matter of survival."

"You don't even know what you're talking about!" I yell. I then get up and leave before giving him the opportunity to say anything else.

I go over and lean against a big tree. It isn't long before the sun completely sets and I see Rick, Shane, and Daryl heading towards the barn leading Randall. They must've decided to kill him. A few moments later they all enter the barn, but then I notice something else; someone's trailing them. I lean closer to try to get a better look. It's Carl. What does he think he's doing?

I stand up and begin running towards him to stop him, but when I get close enough, he slips inside the barn. I am now close enough to hear Randall pleading for his life. Why would Carl want to see this? I feel sick. I take off running towards Daryl's tent. When I reach it, I go inside and sit on my sleeping mat and cover my ears, hoping to drown out the sound of a gunshot that is soon to come, but it never comes. Ten minutes pass…then twenty. Did they change their minds? I remove my hands from my ears. I know it hasn't happened because even covering my ears could not completely drown out the sound of a gunshot.

Suddenly I hear a scream that sent chills down my whole body. I grab my pistol from my bag and begin running towards the continuing screams. It sounds like Dale. I see the others running towards him as well. Daryl reaches him first and tackles a walker that was on top of him and stabs it with a knife. When I'm close enough I stop running.

Daryl then stands up and begins waving his hands. "Help! Over here!" he shouts to the others. "Help us!"

I notice a lot of blood coming out of Dale's stomach area and my heart sinks. It's too late. I get down on my knees beside him and look to see if there was anything I could do. I realize his stomach is wide open. The walker ripped right through him. I take his hand in mind and hold it tight. That's all I can do.

Daryl gets down on his knees on the other side of him. "Hang in there, buddy.

I hear the shouts from the others as they finally reach them but I can't even make out what they're saying. Rick and Andrea get down beside him and saying things to him. He's breaths are heavy and shaky. He's crying out in pain. I feel someone pull me away from him and face me the other way, but I can still hear his agonizing moans. Not long after, I hear a gunshot, and the cries stopped.

The next thing I know I'm in a bathroom with Carol cleaning me up. I look down at myself; I'm covered in blood; Dale's blood. I didn't even notice before. I stay silent as Carol continues to clean me.

"Stay here." She then tells me. "I'm going to get you a new shirt."

She leaves the bathroom only to come back a few minutes later with a faded orange shirt.

"It's one of Beth's, so it will be a little big, but it will do for now." Carol tells me. "Can you take off your shirt?"

I slip off my shirt and grab the other one. It is only now that I realize that I'm shaking pretty bad. I carefully slip the other one on.

Carol sits down on the edge of the bath tub and looks at me. "I know it's a lot for someone to take in…especially a girl as young as you." She says with a small smile. "You are really brave." I look over at her, but say nothing; I don't think I can. I don't have any words to say right now, and if I did, I have no idea what.

"You should try to get some sleep soon." She then tells me. "We will hold a funeral for Dale tomorrow morning."

I nod and walk out of the bathroom. I don't speak to anyone and just walk out of the house and towards Daryl's tent. When I get there I walk inside and lay on my blankets. Daryl isn't here yet, but at the moment, I don't care. I want to be alone now. I let out a shaky breath a close my eyes.

The next morning I wake up and head over to the house right away, knowing the funeral is going to happen soon. I'm met by Rick half way.

"How'd you sleep?" he asks me.

"Alright, I guess." I reply.

He then holds out a gun to me and I recognize it as my pistol. "I believe this is yours." He tells me. "It was left by Dale's body."

I reach out and take it from him. "Thanks." I reply, tucking the gun into the back of my pants.

"You should probably keep it on you more often now. We still don't know how the walker got in so it wouldn't hurt to keep it on you for now." He tells me. I nod my head in agreement. "Come on it's time for Dale's funeral."

He leads me to where the other graves are on the farm. I notice a fresh mound of dirt next to the others. They must've buried Dale last night. Glenn, Maggie, Andrea, Hershel, Lori, and Carl are already here. I walk over and stand between Carl and Maggie. I feel Carl take my hand, but I pull it away. I don't want to be touched by anyone right now. I walk over to the other side of Andrea and avoid looking at Carl's hurt gaze. Soon the others show up.

"Dale could get under your skin…" Rick starts saying. "He sure got under mine…because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought…how he felt…That kind of honesty is rare…and brave…Whenever I'd make a decision…I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had…We've all seen it one time or another…I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us…the truth…who we really are. In the end he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken…" He continued. "The best way to honor him is to un-break it. Set aside our differences and pull together; stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives…Our safety…our future...We're not broken. We're going to prove him wrong. From now on, we're going to do it his way. That is how we honor Dale." He finished.

I give a small smile in agreement. A few of the others nodded. We will do things Dale's way. We will not sacrifice our humanity in this dying world…we will strive to hold onto it…as long as we can.


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Thirteen**

After Dale's funeral Hershel told us we could all move inside. It'll be safer that way. We also started getting more organized. Rick set people on watch, others ran the perimeter to make sure it was secure and also to kill any walkers that had made their way inside. He was basically having the whole farm secured, especially the house now that we'll all be sleeping in there now…at least all who choose to.

As for me, I'm sitting on the steps of back porch by myself. Not much long after Carl finds me.

"I've been looking for you." He tells me. "Where've you been?"

"I've just been here." I tell him honestly.

He sits down beside me. "Have…have you been avoiding me?"

I sit there quietly for a moment. Have I been avoiding him? "I've been avoiding everyone mostly." I tell him.

"Why?" he asks.

I sigh. "Because there's a lot that's happened, so I just wanted to be alone for a bit."

Carl nods and we both sit quietly for a few minutes. I suddenly remember how he snuck into the barn to watch Randall be executed and feel a bit sick.

"Carl?" I say.

"Yeah?"

"W-Why did you sneak into the barn last night?" I ask. "When Randall was about to be executed…"

He appears to think about it for a moment. "I…I don't know."

"You don't know?" I ask him.

"I guess…in my mind…I want to be an adult so I can protect those who I care about. I want to stop being treated like a kid. I figured that if I _did_ adult things and _saw_ adult things, that maybe they would stop looking at me like I'm a helpless kid." He tells me.

I guess that explains his actions a little bit. "You know, it doesn't work like that. Doing stuff like that, will only remind them that you are still a kid. From anyone else's point of view, it looks like you are being childish and immature." I tell him "And also a bit rebellious."

"I kind of figured that by now." He tells me. "Which is why I should tell them about this."

Carl pulls out a nine-millimeter pistol that was tucked in his pants and hands it over to me to look at.

"Carl, where'd you get this?" I ask.

"I stole it from Daryl's bike." He tells me guilty.

"We have to tell your parents!" I tell him standing up, but he quickly grabs my arm, standing up as well to face me.

"No, not my parents!" He says. "I agree we should tell someone, but my parents would kill me!"

"Alright, than who?" I ask.

"Shane." He replies.

"Let's go find him then." I say.

Carl let's go of my arm and we begin to search around for Shane together. We soon find him loading wooden planks into one of the vehicles.

"It's now or never." I tell him.

Carl nods nervously and we walk up to him.

"Hey, Shane?" Carl says, trying to sound casual.

"What's up, man?" Shane replies, while carrying two more planks into the vehicle. "What're you two doing, wandering around by yourselves?"

"If um…If I tell you something, will you promise not to tell my parents?" Carl asks.

Shane glances at him, while brushing off dirt from his hands. "I think it's probably a bad idea for both of us, bud."

Carl hesitates for a moment before starting to walk away. I stay put, looking at Shane, hoping he'd change his mind.

Shane sighs. "Hey, Carl…come on back."

Carl turns around and walks back over to Shane, who's now sitting in the back of the vehicle to listen to what he has to say to him.

"Go on." He tells him.

Carl pulls out the gun from his pants and hands it to Shane. "I took it from Daryl's motorcycle." He tells him. "If he found out I took it, he'd kill me."

I glance over at Shane to see his response. He begins inspecting the gun while pondering what to say next.

"What you doing with this?" Shane asks him.

"It's my fault." Carl continues. I look at him confused. What's his fault? "Dale…It's my fault that he died."

I feel numb at his words. What does he mean, 'it's his fault'?

"Carl, why would you say that, man?" Shane asks him. "He got bit by a walker. Why you say-"

"I saw that walker." Carl interrupts. "I was going to shoot it." Shane sighs and looks towards the ground. "It was stuck in the mud. I was…I was throwing rocks at it in stuff." He continues. "But I was going to do it…shoot it right in the head and it…got free, came after me and…I ran away. If I had killed it…Dale would still be here."

I take a moment to think. It was unwise that Carl did all that, but that aside, he must be feeling a lot of guilt and pain over it now. I feel sad for him.

"Carl, I want you to stop that, okay?" Shane tells him. "This ain't your fault, but I need you to hold onto this. You need to protect yourself." Shane holds out the gun to Carl who seems unsure to take it. "Now look, as long as I'm around you, nothing's going to happen to you, Carl, but I can't keep my eyes on you twenty-four seven. Only you can do that."

Carl shakes his head and moves away from the gun.

"Carl take it." Shane instructs him.

"I'm never touching another gun again." Carl says. He really is feeling guilty.

"No, that ain't an option Carl, okay?"

Carl takes my hand and begins to pull me away. "Just give it back to Daryl!" he says.

Shane doesn't follow us and Carl pulls me all the way back to the back porch where we were sitting before. He let's go of me and I catch a glimpse of his face and see that he is crying.

"Do you hate me now?" He asks shakily.

I look at him surprised and quickly shake my head. "Of course not. Carl, it isn't your fault."

"But it is, Erin!" he tells me, crying a bit harder. "I know you're probably thinking that deep down; that I'm a terrible person; that I should've been wiser; that I should've-"

Before he could finish I place my hands on the side of his face and press my lips firmly against his, silencing him immediately. This shocks Carl at first, but I soon feel him relax and begin to gently press his lips back to mine. I pull away from the kiss and then pull him into a hug. "It's not your fault Carl. You're not a terrible person." I whisper in his ear. "We all make mistakes."

I pull back and look at Carl's face. He's no longer crying, but standing there stunned and blushing. I realize my actions and suddenly feel a bit embarrassed. I feel my cheeks heat up, but I continue to hold my gaze. He then shyly looks at the ground before pulling me into another strong embrace.

"Thanks." He whispers to me.

"Um…we should help the other's bring the stuff inside the house." I tell him, starting to feel really shy.

Carl laughs a little. "Yeah, alright." He lets go of me and smiles. I smile back and we both head inside the house to help the others. After a few hours, Carl wanted to be alone. He must still be feeling a bit guilty over the whole Dale incident. Soon the rest of us finish settling in.

I set up my sleeping spot in the upstairs hallway where I didn't think there'd be a lot of foot traffic since I rather avoid being stepped on. Carl's probably going to end up sleeping in Hershel's bedroom downstairs with his parents.

I begin hearing a commotion outside. I wonder what's going on now. I peak over the railing to the downstairs. A few seconds some of the group, except for Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Shane come rushing inside. When Carl notices me, he rushes upstairs to where I am.

"Randall got loose!" he tells me.

"What?!" I say in shock.

"Yeah, we think he slipped his cuffs." Carl tells me. "They're looking for him now. He punched Shane in the nose, causing him to black out. He took his gun."

Wait, he knocked Shane out? I begin feeling suspicious. The kid should be weak. I don't think we've been giving him much food since he's been here. He's probably dehydrated and sleep deprived…and he knocked Shane out?

Soon night falls and there's still no news from Rick, Daryl, Glenn, or Shane. Carl had somehow managed to get binoculars and we've been taking turns looking out of the upstairs window for any sign of any of them. Carl looks worried.

"Don't worry." I tell Carl. "Your dad's going to be alright. I mean he survived Atlanta and managed to make it back to you alive, right? Not many can pull that off."

Carl chuckles a little. "That's right, you were with him in Atlanta for awhile, weren't you? What was that like?"

"Crazy." I reply. "It's filled with walkers. Your dad came riding up on this brown horse acting like he was 'Ranger Rick' or something." I laugh. Carl does too. "Walker's took down his horse and he managed to climb into a tank before any of them got to him. I was with Glenn at the time. We were coming back from searching for my uncle. We helped him get out, but got the whole city to turn on the department store we were hiding out in. At least it seemed that way. There were so many walkers."

Carl gives me a small smile. "Then what?"

"Your dad helped us escaped. He lathered walker guts over him and Glenn; made them smell like walkers and went out and grabbed a vehicle. It became a close call because it started raining, but they managed to get a truck to hold us in and a red challenger to distract the walkers."

"That's disgusting." Carl says, referring to the walker guts.

"It was." I laugh. "But it worked pretty well until the rain began. So anyways, your dad brought the truck back we piled in while Glenn was distracting the walkers with the challenger and we drove out of there." I finish. I leave out the fact that we left Daryl's brother Merle on the roof. It still brings back unpleasant memories.

"Let's go wait outside. Randall's probably too far out by now to hurt us." Carl suggests.

"Your mom will kill us." I reply.

"We can sneak out." Carl says. "Through the back door; she won't notice us."

Deep down I know it's not a good idea, but I'm not very fond of sitting here any longer and waiting to see if anything happens. "Alright let's go, Grimes."

Carl smirks and we sneak down stairs. Lori is in the living room with most of the others. They are not saying much, probably because they are worried. I don't see anyone near the back door so Carl and I easily slip out, unnoticed. I run with Carl over to what seems to be my favorite tree, being that I've been coming here a lot to sit under it.

"The moon looks so big tonight." Carl says look up at the sky.

I also look up. He's right. It does look really big tonight. It's beautiful. "Wow." I say.

We stay silent for several moments before Carl speaks up. "I hope we can stay together forever." He mumbles.

"What?" I ask him, felling my cheeks heat up. Maybe I didn't hear him right.

"I want to stay with you, Erin. Forever…I want to be with you…I hope we never get separated." Carl tells me. I'm happy it's dark and he probably can't really see my face well.

Carl come close to me, takes my hands and leans his forehead against mine. "Please…always stay beside me Erin. I don't want to lose you. I…I don't know what I'd do." He says shakily. "I can't lose you Erin…I can't lose my best and only friend in this world."

"In this world…it's hard to not lose people…but I promise you, if I ever get separated from you, I will try my best to find you again." I tell him. "Remember? Best friends stick together."

Carl smiles. "Yeah."

He then moves one of his hands and places it behind my neck and pulls my lips to his. This kiss seems to last longer than our two previous ones…and more serious. He turns his head slightly to the right and parts his lips a bit more deepening the kiss. I feel something warm and wet slide across my bottom lip causing me to jump and pull away.

"S-Sorry." Carl says, even in the dark I can see he's blushing madly. I probably am too. "I got a bit carried away."

"N-no it's okay." I say. "It…it just surprised me. Where'd you learn to do…_that_ anyway?"

Carl lets out a nervous chuckle. "Movies mostly."

I laugh also. I then notice I hear shouting in the distance. Carl must've noticed it too because he's looking at me with wide eyes. We both simultaneously begin running in the direction of shouting. Soon we hear a gunshot go off and then more shouting. We soon find Rick…standing over Shane's dead body.

"Dad?" Carl shouts. I can tell he's already crying. I also notice he has a gun pulled out.

Rick looks up towards us. "Carl…you know…you should be back home with your mom…you too Erin."  
Carl then holds the gun up. I look at Carl in shock but then notice what he's actually aiming for; Shane's walker form.

"Just…just put the gun down." Rick tells him, believing it is aimed towards him. "It's not what it seems…please."

Carl then fires the gun and what used to be Shane falls dead to the ground. Rick whirls around to see this also. Carl then lowers his gun and breathes a sigh of relief. He then runs over to his dad and hugs him. I pull out my own gun and go over to Shane's body, kicking it slightly to make sure it's actually dead; he is. Carl hit him square in the head. I wonder what happened to cause all this? What happened to Randall. I have so many questions.

Than I hear growling in the distance…the kind of growling that would cause your heart to nearly stop. I look over and see in the distance a giant herd of walkers…and they're heading our way.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been a long time since my last update. Thank you for all the reviews, likes, and follows! **

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Fourteen**

_(Carl's POV)_

I'm still a bit shocked with the events that had taken place only moments before. Shane had become a walker, and I shot him. How he became a walker, I am not sure, but deep down, I'm not so sure I want to find out.

"You bit too?" I ask Dad, letting the curiosity get the better of me. We are slowly making are way back to the house.

Dad hesitates a few seconds before answering. "No."

"Shane was." I say.

Dad hesitates a few more seconds. "That wasn't Shane. You know that." he tells me.

"Used to be." I reply. "What happened? Were you guys attacked?" I wait for him to respond, and when he doesn't, I continue. "I mean I… I heard a gunshot. I didn't see any walkers nearby." Dad still remains silent. I finally just come out and ask. "How did shane die?

Dad stops and faces me, so I do the same. Before he says anything, I chance a look at Erin, expecting her to right beside us, but instead I notice that she hasn't moved at all since I shot Shane. Is she in shock? I walk a few steps towards her to see what the deal is, but then I get a better look at her face. I see a look I have only seen Erin wear a couple of times. Pure terror. She's looking at something out in the distance and I follow her gaze and soon realize what she's looking at. It feels as if my heart stops. Walkers…hundreds of them…and they are all heading this way.

Dad must've noticed it too because he runs back, grabs Erin by the arm, and begins dragging her behind him.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go." he whispers to me, urgently, slightly pushing me forward, away from the oncoming walkers.

We stop next to a tree and Dad takes a moment to look around and think of our next move.

"W-We gotta get to the house…tell the others." I whisper, frantically.

Erin seems to have come to her senses. She looks more alert now, which makes me feel slightly relieved.

"We'll never get through that." Dad whispers back to me. "Can't go around. Carl, Erin, stay close. Go!" and we are running again. We run towards the barn. The walkers are close now; some only a few feet away and I can feel myself beginning to panic.

We reach the barn in a matter of seconds and run inside. Dad closes the doors behind us and latches them closed. In a matter of a second, I can already hear walkers pounding on the doors. The three of us take a second to catch our breaths.

"Those doors don't look like they're going to hold." Erin says.

"It won't." Dad says. He then grabs a container filled with liquid. He begins pouring it out onto the ground and the smell of gas fills my nostrils. "Alright, here we go. Get behind me. Come on, hurry."

I grab Erin's hand as we get behind Dad. The walkers were already beginning to tear away the wooden walls. Dad sets the container of gas down and gestures with his head towards the ladder behind us. "Up there, hurry." He instructs.

I look at him, nervously. "Well, what about you?"

"I'll be right there." he says. He then holds out a lighter to me. "Alright, drop the lighter when I say." I take the lighter, still a bit unsure. "We'll stop some of them from reaching the house, distract the others, so at least we'll have a chance." I must look like I'm about to lose my head because the next thing Dad says is an attempt to reassure me. "Hey, hey, hey, look at me. You can do this." I barely register his hand is on my shoulder, squeezing tightly. "Carl, I love you." he tells me, looking me straight in the eye. "Alright, go, go, go!"

The way he says 'I love you' sounds like it could be the last. I don't like it. I quickly sum up all of my courage and turn towards the ladder. I let go of Erin's hand a push her towards it. She quickly climbs up, with me following quickly behind her.

When we reach the top, Dad turns towards the barn doors. He begins banging on them, kicking them, and shouting at the top of his lungs. "Hey! Hey! You want some!? Come and get it!" he pulls the latch free and the walkers come pouring in. "Come on! Come on!" Dad continues shouting. "Come on! Over here!" He grabs the ladder and begins climbing up it. I get into position and ready the lighter. I quickly glance at Erin, who gives me a nod of approval.

When Dad get's high enough on the ladder, he turns towards me and shouts the words I've been waiting for. "Carl, now!" I release the lighter and watch as it falls to the ground. In an instance the ground beneath us lights up with bright orange flame and the walkers that've stumbled into the barn catch fire along with it.

"Even the fire can't stop them." Erin says, just loud enough for me to hear her. She's right; the fire doesn't seem to have any effect on them. Of course, their skin is burning off…but they don't notice or react to it in the slightest.

Dad climbs the rest of the way to the top, and I feel slightly relieved. I begin to hear vehicles on the outside as well as gunshots, which also fills me with a bit of relief. At least the others are aware of the walkers. I notice Dad pull out his gun so I do the same. I glance at Erin who looks back at me nervously. I realize she doesn't have her pistol with her. Instead she pulls out the knife I gave her awhile back. Better than nothing. I take her hand again and give it a reassuring squeeze. "Stay close to me, Erin." I tell her.

She gives me a quick nod in response, and I let go of her hand.

Dad moves towards an opening where a ledge is, with Erin and I following behind him. I fire a shot at one of the closer walkers, but unfortunately it only hits it in the shoulder.

"Hey! Get in here!" Dad shouts and gestures with his arm. I look over and see he's shouting at Jimmy in the RV. "Put it right there!"

Jimmy pulls up to where a lower part of the barn roof is. Dad jumps over the gap between the ledge we were standing and the roof. I follow, but almost stubble off of it. Dad grabs me to steady me. My heart is beating out of my chest. If I'd fallen, I'd be as good as dead; a bunch of walkers are right beneath us.

Then the worst thing happens…Erin doesn't clear the gap and I watch in horror as she falls to the ground.

"ERIN!" I cry out. I try to look for her…try to see any sight of her, but I don't. There is too many walkers. My whole body is shaking and I can barely breath. "ERIN!" I shout again, but still…nothing. Then there is screaming. I barely register Dad dragging me to the top of the RV.

"NOOOOOOOO!" I scream trying to fight back.

Dad stops and grabs me by the shoulders while looking me straight in the eyes. "Carl, we have to go. We can't say here." his voice is shaky and I see tears in his eyes.

"But…Erin…she…" I feel my self begin to sob.

"I know, Carl. I know." he says. "There isn't anything we can do. It's too late. We have to go."

He pulls me towards the ladder and climbs down it dragging me with him. The next thing I know, I'm being dragged towards a vehicle. My body is moving on its own. My mind is barely registering anything. All I can think of is Erin, and the look she had as she fell…the last I saw of her…and probably the last I'll ever see of her. It will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Erin…my best friend…the first girl I ever loved…gone.


	15. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Epilogue **

_(Erin's POV)_

It feels as if the world has stopped and everything seems to be moving in slow motion. I just fell ten feet, but if I'm injured my brain doesn't register it. All I can think is that I need to get out of here, now. I still don't feel any pain as I scramble to my feet. By some miracle only two walkers seem to have spot me. The rest seem to be focused on…the RV? Oh no, Jimmy.

I know it's too late for him when I begin to hear screaming. I cringe and begin to run, knowing that if I didn't, the two walkers that spotted me would get me. I'm surprised that I'm still holding onto the knife Carl gave me awhile back. It's fortunate I didn't stab myself with it when I fell.

Walkers are still everywhere, but they seem to be more drawn to all the gunfire that's going on instead of me. I quickly look around and try to find Rick and Carl again, but they are no where in sight. I can see vehicles in the distance driving around with people sticking their heads out the window firing off shots at the walkers. They're too far. I'd never reach them alive with all the walkers between me and them.

I look around and begin thinking of a plan, being careful not to get to close to any of the walkers. So I can't reach the vehicles, and it's way to risky to try to run towards the house, plus I'd put anyone that may still be inside in danger. Obviously I can't shout for help. I turn towards the woods. The woods are my best bet.

I begin a full on sprint to the woods, not daring to look back. I have to dodge a few walkers, but it isn't long before I reach the woods. I don't stop. I keep running, adrenaline forcing me forward. I weave through the trees as fast as I can.

I must've been running for well over an hour, when I finally begin to slow down, adrenaline wearing off. I look around, making sure walkers are no where in sight and then sink to my knees. Then the pain hits me. My whole body aches. I look over my body to check for any serious injuries. Thankfully, nothing looks broken. I will probably be sore tomorrow and a fresh set of bruises, but other than that, there are only a few minor scrapes.

I close my eyes as I continue to catch my breath. Now what am I going to do? I'm in the middle of nowhere, deep within a forest, and I do not have the slightest idea where my friends are or if they even made it out alive.

Then it hits me. What if Carl didn't make it?

No, no. He's with Rick. Rick survived Atlanta and there's no way he'd let anything happen to Carl.

Suddenly I get the weird feeling I'm being watch. I allow my eyes to slowly scan my surroundings, but I see nothing but forrest life. I'm just being paranoid.

I close my eyes and take slow deep breaths to calm myself. When I open them my breath catches in my throat.

…In the distance about fifteen feet in front of me is a masked figure. Fear begins to rise in me. He's just standing there…watching me…not making a sound.

He isn't alone.

I notice something in the right corner of my eye and see another masked figure…then to my left, another…

I don't get a chance to look behind me.

My vision is becoming blurry and I'm falling backwards.

The last thing I see, are four masked figures standing over me…just watching me…not making a sound.

Now, there's only darkness.

**END**

**A/N: Hey everyone! I'm sorry it took me so long to finish this story, but now it's finally done! I'll be working on the next story of Lost Hope very soon and believe me, things are going to start getting VERY exciting! Thank you for all the kind reviews, the favorites, and the follows! Be looking for the third Lost Hope story very soon! :D**


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